LOS ANGELES, CA — A now-former California Highway Patrol officer is facing murder charges in connection to the deaths of four people, who were inside a vehicle he rear-ended on a Los Angeles County freeway while on duty, according to prosecutors.
The four people died as a result of a series of two crashes on the 605 Freeway in Norwalk in July. Prosecutors say the first was caused by the former officer, 24-year-old Angelo Rodriguez, who rear-ended the victims’ vehicle and then fled the scene in his cruiser. Minutes later, a suspected drunken driver, 27-year-old Iris Salmeron, crashed into the disabled vehicle, which was in the HOV lane, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Both were driving over 100 mph before the crash, prosecutors said.
Rodriguez and Salmeron each face four counts of murder in the deaths of 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.
Salmeron is also charged with driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury and driving under the influence with 0.08% alcohol causing bodily injury.
Before the crash, prosecutors claim Rodriguez was driving on the southbound 605 at more than 130 mph without any justification. He also had not turned on his patrol vehicles emergency lights or siren.
Rodriguez struck a car carrying the four victims, which had entered the HOV lane moments before, according to prosecutors.
After the collision, he pulled over on the right shoulder of the freeway while the victims’ car remained disabled in the HOV lane. Rodriguez waited three minutes on the shoulder before exiting the freeway, according to prosecutors.
“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,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “At one point he actually gets out and inspects the damage to his own car.”
Only after exiting did he call CHP dispatch to report the crash. He did not mention his involvement in the collision, prosecutors said.
The officer then got back on the freeway, this time heading northbound, to make his way back to the disabled vehicle, prosecutors said.
As Rodriguez was returning to the crash, Salmeron struck the disabled vehicle while driving at around 110 mph. The vehicle burst into flames, killing all four occupants, prosecutors said.
Salmeron, who prosecutors say was drunk in the time, was injured in the crash, as was her passenger.
The four victims were driving home from a concert the night they were killed. None were seriously injured in the first crash; several called family members in the minutes before the second crash, attorney Darren Aitken, who represents the families in a civil lawsuit against the CHP, told the Times.
Rodriguez, who is no longer on the force, had been involved in two on-duty traffic collisions, prosecutors said.
Rodriguez and Salmeron are set to be arraigned Tuesday. They each could face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted as charged.