Dashcam footage shows LAPD cruiser 'inappropriately using' emergency lights, fatally hitting pedestrian
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Police Department has released dashcam and surveillance footage of a crash from last month, in which an LAPD officer hit and killed a pedestrian with their squad car.
It was Dec. 8, around 5 p.m. at McKinley Avenue and Century Boulevard. According to the LAPD, a police cruiser was heading east on Century, and the car had its emergency lights activated. The cruiser hit a pedestrian who was crossing southbound across Century, outside the marked crosswalk. That person, identified as Luis Espinosa, later died.
Police said the officer was assigned to the Community Safety Partnership Bureau. In the video, Espinosa is seen running across the street, and ultimately into the path of the police car when the two collide.
The LAPD has not said specifically what emergency the officer was headed to at the time of the crash, and whether she was dispatched, or if the action of going "Code 3," meaning lights and sirens, was self-initiated.
LAPD officer hits, kills pedestrian
A Los Angeles Police Department officer is under investigation after she hit and killed a pedestrian in South Los Angeles. LAPD Chief Michel Moore said that the officer may have been inappropriately using the emergency lights in her cruiser when the crash happened.
At the time of the crash, LAPD Chief Michel Moore told the LA Police Commission that he had "very serious concerns about the officer's driving leading up to this collision. Information we've gathered up to this point indicates that, in addition to her traveling at a high rate of speed, she inappropriately activated her emergency lights as she was traveling along Century Boulevard."
Former LAPD officer, police union leader and LA Councilmember Dennis Zine said "the statements by the chief of police is that the Code 3 — red lights and sirens — which is used for emergency calls was inappropriate. That's a problem." He added that the case "raises so many questions and appears very serious," adding also that situations like this are very rare.
"Whether the pedestrian was crossing legally or illegally, the question is why was that unit going Code 3, a solo unit. Normally when it's a Code 3, there's a two-person unit responding to that situation," Zine said.
The LAPD has referred the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, which said in a statement to FOX 11 that "this matter has been presented to the office's Justice System Integrity Division for charging consideration, and is under review."