Murder charges were announced Monday against a former California Highway Patrol officer and a DUI suspect in a deadly crash last year that killed four people on the 605 Freeway in Norwalk.
The charges were announced at a Monday morning news conference.
The murder charges stem from a crash July 20 in southern Los Angeles County, when a CHP officer in a patrol car was southbound in the HOV lane on the freeway without lights and sirens at 130 mph, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Monday. A Nissan legally entered that lane and was rear-ended by the CHP patrol car, the DA said.
The CHP officer pulled over and stopped for about three minutes, then exited the freeway. The CHP officer did not deploy flares or warnings lights with the disabled Nissan still on the freeway, Hochman said.
Another car traveling at 110 mph rammed into the back of the Nissan causing a fire with four people still inside the car.
Family members of two of four people killed in the fiery crash filed a claim for damages against the California Highway Patrol.
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