A California Highway Patrol officer is now facing murder charges after rear-ending a car at 130 mph and fleeing from the scene of an incident. Unfortunately, another car driver allegedly under the influence of alcohol crashed into the vehicle struck earlier by the officer. A total of four lives were lost in the two incidents.
Prosecutors stated that the now former CHP officer, 24-year-old Angelo Rodriguez, was on the southbound 605 Freeway in Norwalk in July last year when he rear-ended another vehicle and fled the scene in his police cruiser.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office stated that in a span of a few minutes, 27-year-old Iris Salmeron, who was allegedly drunk, crashed into the “disabled vehicle.”
The four victims, Juliana Hamori, 23, of Huntington Beach; Armand Del Campo, 24, of San Pedro; Jordan Partridge, 23, of Los Angeles; and Samantha Skocilic, 22, of Westminster, were driving back home from a concert when the incident occurred.
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Prosecutors stated that before Rodriguez crashed into the car, he was driving the cruiser at over 130 mph for no reason without the emergency lights or siren turned on. He then rear-ended the car with four occupants that had entered the HOV lane.
Two Accidents Under Legal Scrutiny
Rodriguez waited three minutes on the right shoulder of the freeway while the victims remained inside the car on the HOV lane. He then exited the freeway soon after and called the CHP dispatch to report the incident. However, he did not speak about his involvement in the incident at that point. District Attorney Nathan Hochman said:
“He doesn’t go ahead and radio in the accident that just occurred. He takes absolutely no steps to deal with the disabled Nissan he has just crashed into.
“At one point he actually gets out and inspects the damage to his own car.”
Rodriguez then got back onto the northbound 605 Freeway towards the disabled vehicle. However, that was when Salmeron crashed into the disabled vehicle at 110 mph, which then burst into flames, killing all four occupants.
According to attorney Darren Aitken, who represents the families in a civil lawsuit against the CHP, the four occupants were not seriously injured after the first hit. They even called family members before being hit by Salmeron.
Prosecutors stated that Rodriguez was involved in two on-duty traffic collisions. He and Salmeron individually face four counts of murder in the deaths of the four occupants killed on the southbound 605 Freeway. In addition, Salmeron was charged with driving under the influence of 0.08% alcohol, causing bodily injury. Both could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
