An officer with the California Highway Patrol will face second-degree murder charges after he allegedly crashed into a civilian vehicle while driving at dangerous speeds in Norwalk last summer, and left the scene before reporting it, leading to the deaths of four young people in a second crash moments later, according to prosecutors.

During a news conference on Monday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the charges against Officer Angelo Rodriguez, as well as second-degree murder charges against Iris Salmeron, who was involved in the second crash.

The charges stem from a fiery, violent string of events in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 20. According to Hochman, Rodriguez was driving about 130 miles per hour in a CHP vehicle at about 12:50 a.m. southbound in the 605 Freeway’s carpool lane approaching Imperial Highway.

He did not have his lights or siren on at the time, and there was no known justification for him to be driving at that speed, Hochman said. 

At that time, a Nissan sedan being driven by Julie Harmori, 24, entered the carpool lane just ahead of Rodriguez, according to Hochman. Rodriguez failed to react and crashed into the back of Harmori’s vehicle, which contained four total occupants.

No severe injuries were believed to have been caused by the initial crash. Hochman said Rodriguez, who had his vehicle’s lights on in the immediate aftermath of the collision, then successfully moved the CHP vehicle to the right-hand side of the road. 

After moving to the side of the road, he turned off the lights.

“When you turn your lights off, you then disable the audio system inside of the patrol car,” Hochman said.

The Nissan remained disabled in the carpool lane, and Hamori had turned on the vehicle’s hazard lights.

Prosecutors allege that Rodriguez sat on the side of the road for three minutes in the patrol car, and took “absolutely no steps” to deal with the collision. After those three minutes, he stepped out of the vehicle, inspected the damage on his patrol car and returned to the driver’s seat, driving away from the scene with the lights and sirens.

About one minute later, Hochman said, Rodriguez exited the freeway and reported the crash to CHP dispatchers. He told dispatch that a CHP vehicle was involved in the crash with the Nissan, but he failed to mention that he was the CHP officer behind the wheel.

After that call, Rodriguez circled back to the scene by driving northbound, then returning to the southbound lanes. When Rodriguez returned to the scene six minutes later, at about 12:59 a.m., he found the Nissan in flames after it was struck by another vehicle.

Investigations revealed that two minutes before Rodriguez’s return, at 12:57 a.m., a vehicle driven by Iris Salmeron crashed into the back of the Nissan, causing the disabled vehicle to catch fire. Hochman says Salmeron had been drinking in the hours before the crash, at one point text messaging a friend that she was going to get “F’d up” that night.

Salmeron later tested for a blood alcohol content above the legal limit of .08%.

The four people inside the Nissan died from injuries sustained in the fiery crash. In addition to Hamori, they were later identified as Armand Del Campo, Jordan Partridge and Sam Skocilic.

“To the victims’ families, I don’t know what to say,” Hochman said. “I can tell you this, we will bring the full weight of the law, to bring a full measure of justice for the tragedy you have suffered.”

Hochman said both Rodriguez and Salmeron could face life in prison if convicted of all charges. They’re each being held on $8 million bail. Both are set to be formally arraigned in a Bellflower courtroom on Tuesday.

Rodriguez was fired by the CHP at some point after the crash, Hochman said.

Last summer, the families of two of the victims, Del Campo and Harmoni, pleaded for answers as to why the crash wasn’t immediately reported. The CHP initially claimed that the two collisions were nearly simultaneous. 

Del Campo’s mother, Angie Reed,  said he’d texted her at 12:56 a.m. saying that they’d been in a crash but everyone was OK. They were killed just one minute later. Reed claims that CHP initially told her that her son was pronounced dead at 12:50 a.m.

CHP Southern Division Chief Chris Margaris attended Monday’s news conference but did not speak.