{"id":242910,"date":"2026-03-30T03:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T03:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/242910\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T03:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T03:51:08","slug":"california-man-found-dead-in-back-of-parked-police-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/242910\/","title":{"rendered":"California man found dead in back of parked police car"},"content":{"rendered":"

(NewsNation<\/a>) \u2014 Authorities in California say they are investigating after a man was found dead in the back of a parked police car last week.<\/p>\n

Eric Valencia, 37, was arrested<\/a> on March 23 on suspicion of driving under the influence but was later released due to lack of evidence. Valencia\u2019s family filed a missing persons report after they couldn\u2019t locate him following his release.<\/p>\n

The Azusa Police Department said Valencia <\/a>walked out of the station and got into the backseat of an unlocked police vehicle parked out front. The department has not said whether surveillance cameras captured Valencia leaving the building or entering the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Police arresting \u2018No Kings\u2019 protesters amid standoff in downtown Los Angeles <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe vehicle was awaiting maintenance, which is a common practice as patrol units are regularly cycled in and out of service and new vehicles await equipment installation,\u201d the Azusa Police Department said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not uncommon for vehicles to be out of service and parked for days and\/or weeks at a time, as we have a large fleet of emergency vehicles. The vehicle had been left unlocked, and it should have been secured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Azusa police officials acknowledged that DUI suspects are not released until they are sober. If they show any signs of medical distress, they are transported to a hospital.<\/p>\n

Valencia\u2019s cause of death remains unknown. An autopsy has not yet been performed.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(NewsNation) \u2014 Authorities in California say they are investigating after a man was found dead in the back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[108946,7,9,8,44661,108948,108947,3306],"class_list":["post-242910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-azusa-police-department","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-police-car","tag-police-officials","tag-police-vehicle","tag-valencia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}