2 Officers Injured by Hit-and-Run Driver

A minivan careened past a crime scene near Hollywood early Saturday, smashing into two Los Angeles police officers and critically injuring one of them.

The driver sped off. Police are searching for the man who hit Officer Christopher Chavez, 26, causing severe head trauma. The other officer, Leon Maya, 29, was treated for a minor foot injury and released.

At 12:50 a.m., Chavez and Maya, from the LAPD’s Wilshire Division, arrived at Beverly Boulevard and Heliotrope Drive, where Hollywood Division officers were pursuing a murder suspect.

The two were next to their car when the green minivan, possibly a 1994-98 model, plowed into them, police said.

Chavez, who has been on the force three years, underwent surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to relieve brain swelling.

“The risk of death at that point is very high,” said Dr. Scott Cunneen, a trauma surgeon at the hospital who has handled similar cases.

So the doctors induced a coma, which Cunneen said helps decrease brain activity to minimize injury.

“It’s like shutting it down so the factory doesn’t work so hard,” he said.

Chavez’s wife, Janine, said more than 100 people had streamed into the hospital by Saturday afternoon to offer support, filling the waiting room with flowers and balloons.

She described her husband, whom she met 12 years ago at a high school dance, as sweet and devoted.

“He still sends flowers for no reason and calls all the time,” she said. The couple had expected to spend the weekend house-hunting and celebrating their first wedding anniversary, which is today. “I’m pretty hopeful,” she said. “I’m waiting for him to wake up.”

Police Chief William J. Bratton, who had been in Las Vegas for the annual Baker-to-Vegas law enforcement relay race, rushed back to town to join fellow officers and Chavez’s family and friends in the anxious vigil.

Mayor James K. Hahn also visited the hospital and met with Chavez’s family. He was briefly escorted in to see the young officer. “I told him to take his time and wake up and come back to us,” Hahn said.

Shortly before the hit-and-run accident, Chavez and Maya had parked their patrol car, with its lights flashing, on Beverly, police said.

They were standing beside the car when the minivan zoomed down the street and hit them with such force that the passenger-side mirror was sheared off.

The van apparently sped around the corner, where it was stopped by other officers manning the perimeter at Oakwood and Kenmore avenues.

Unaware that the driver had just struck Chavez and Maya on the other side of the block, officers waved him away from the scene of their murder manhunt. He was smoking a cigarette and appeared nervous as he drove off, police said.

They described the driver as a slightly built Asian in his 40s, about 5-foot-6, with salt-and-pepper hair, and glasses with small, round frames. He was sitting on a wooden, beaded seat cover as he drove.

A somber mood descended over the Wilshire Division station Saturday, where colleagues described Chavez as a friendly, community-oriented officer whose hard work quickly landed him on the gang detail, a sought-after position.

“He’s an outstanding officer,” said Sgt. Murrel Pettway. “This hits very close to us. We’re praying for a speedy recovery for him.”