3 deputies taken to hospital in East LA patrol car crash

Three people were taken to hospitals early Monday morning with wounds from related shootings in East Los Angeles and Commerce and three sheriff's deputies were in the hospital after their two patrol vehicles crashed en route to the shootings.

The chain of events started at about 12:40 a.m. with a call of multiple shooting victims in the 5700 block of East Whittier Boulevard in Commerce, according to Dep. Miesha McClendon of the Sheriff's Information Bureau.

Three deputies in two patrol vehicles en route to a related shooting call in the area of Beverly and Atlantic boulevards in East Los Angeles crashed into each other sending one into a pole and the other into the side of a building, McClendon said.

Two shooting victims were taken to hospitals from the Commerce scene and one was taken to a hospital from the East Los Angeles scene, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Craig Little.

Two deputies were inside one patrol vehicle and one was in the other at the time of the crash and all three were taken to hospitals, McClendon said. The shootings are related, McClendon said.

The conditions of the shooting victims and the deputies were not immediately released.