Video shows LAPD cruiser crash into pedestrian in South L.A.
(OnScene.TV)
A Los Angeles police cruiser crashed into a pedestrian in South Los Angeles early Wednesday after the officer behind the wheel apparently lost control of the vehicle.
Chris Davis was walking along South Normandie Avenue after 12:30 a.m. while wearing a high-visibility vest when he heard the sound of screeching tires approaching from behind, according to video obtained by OnScene.TV.
The officer reported that he was driving northbound on Normandie, just south of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, when he felt the front wheels of the vehicle lock up, causing him to lose control, according to Officer Melissa Ohana with the LAPD. The cruiser then veered eastward, sideswiped a parked vehicle and slid sideways onto the sidewalk, striking Davis as it came to a stop.
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The crash was captured on a security camera pointing to the location where Davis was walking. He abruptly stopped as the careening cruiser approached and attempted to jump out of the way.
The left front fender of the car appears to have struck Davis and pinned his leg to the wall behind him. The officer in the driver’s seat got out of the cruiser, saw that Davis was pinned and then reversed the vehicle, the video shows.
The officer then stood over Davis as he pulled out his phone and Davis tried to move his legs.
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The front right end of the police cruiser appeared to have been damaged before the vehicle pinned Davis to the side of a fast-food restaurant.
Paramedics with the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to reports of a traffic accident in the 3900 block of South Normandie, according to department spokesperson Margaret Stewart. Initially, the patient declined to be taken in for medical care, according to Ohana, but an ambulance was called back to the scene a short time later and took him to a hospital with minor injuries, Stewart said.
The incident is under investigation, according to the LAPD.
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