Photo: CHP
Medical examiner confirms cause of death in July 2025 patrol car collision.
Fentanyl exposure caused the death of a California Highway Patrol officer whose patrol vehicle crashed in Culver City last summer, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Officer Miguel Cano, 34, was driving a CHP cruiser shortly after 12:30 a.m. on July 2, 2025, near Bristol Parkway and Green Valley Circle when the vehicle veered off the roadway and struck a tree. The crash occurred just blocks from the CHP’s West Los Angeles office, where Cano and his partner were headed.
Earlier that night, the two officers had arrested a driver on suspicion of driving under the influence who allegedly possessed what the CHP described as a large quantity of cocaine.
Authorities said Cano told his partner he was feeling ill moments before the collision. He was administered Narcan, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, as a precaution at the scene and was transported to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he later died.
In a statement released Monday, the Medical Examiner’s Office said, “The time and route of how the fentanyl was introduced into Officer Cano’s system is unknown and cannot be determined. The manner of death is accidental.”
Cano’s partner and the DUI suspect sustained minor injuries in the crash.