Footage recently released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows how a police cruiser fatally struck 26-year-old Luis Espinoza in Watts at dusk on December 8.
According to the department, the incident occurred on East Century Boulevard around 5 p.m. City fire paramedics transported Espinoza to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Footage from cameras still in front of East Century Boulevard shows the police van traveling quickly east on the street with its emergency lights on. A slow-motion playback of the video shows a blurry image of Espinoza running across the street about 75 feet west of the traffic light at McKinley Avenue, which was green for the patrol car.
There, the patrol car hit Espinoza so violently that his body flew and fell into the intersection, crossed the intersection and rolled at least 50 more feet, slow-motion footage shows.
In an audio recording released by the department, a female officer can be heard calling for help after the collision. Another video from a stationary camera shows an officer tending to Espinoza about a minute after the collision, apparently administering chest compressions.
Police have not released the name of the officer who was driving the patrol car. According to sources familiar with the investigation, the officer was part of the department’s community safety partnership office, which seeks to improve relations between police and the communities they serve across the city. At the time of the collision, they said, she was running an errand for a member of a youth sports team affiliated with the department.
The 7+ minute video released by the LAPD is a combination of dash cam footage and clips from stationary locations.
A department spokesperson did not confirm the source of the off-board images and said there was no further information related to the investigation.
LAPD Capt. Kelly Muniz said at a community briefing Sunday that the investigation into the incident was led by the department’s multidisciplinary collision investigation team.
He said the investigation was “still in the early stages” and a resolution may not be reached for months. However, he said the case has been “presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for consideration.”
“We also do not draw any conclusions about whether the officers acted in accordance with our legal policies until all the facts are known and the investigation is completed,” he said.
Last month, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said he had “very serious concerns about the officer’s driving prior to the collision.” He also said he was conducting a separate internal affairs investigation.
