Speeding driver is killed in crash
A speeding motorist died Thursday morning after colliding with another car roughly 20 minutes after he eluded police in an earlier pursuit, authorities said.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies chased the same motorist about 8:20 a.m., when they saw him “going very quickly and erratically on the road” at Compton Boulevard and Aprilia Avenue, said Lt. Tony Lucia. “The guy was obviously driving like a maniac.”
The pursuit was called off about 30 to 40 seconds later for safety reasons because of the driver’s speed, said Lt. Reinhardt Schuerger.
Sheriff’s Department detectives then saw the driver about 20 minutes later while they were waiting at a stoplight on Compton Boulevard at Willowbrook Avenue. They “heard this guy screeching behind them,” Schuerger said.
“Before they could even do anything else, they see smoke up ahead,” he said. “They say, ‘Hey, we think he may have crashed.’ It was that quick.”
The speeder crashed his Honda Passport into a Toyota 4Runner at Compton Boulevard and Sloan Avenue. He was first reported as critically injured, but was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:23 a.m.
-- Joanna Lin
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