LAPD admits crash that killed 2 innocent victims occurred during police pursuit
Officials with the Los Angeles Police Department released footage Wednesday of a pursuit that lead to a crash and the death of two innocent victims. Police initially insisted it was not a pursuit, but later admitted that it was.
Dash and body-cam video shows the moments just before and after a driver speeding away from police ran a red light and hit the victims' vehicle.
The crash killed 35-year-old Janisha Harris, a mother of two, and her friend, 38-year-old Jamaree Keyes, a father of five.
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Family of the victims, angry with LAPD's initial denials that the incident was not a police pursuit, have been demanding the release of the footage.
"I can't really say that it's closure, but at least we have the truth," Tanya Keye's, Jamaree's wife, said.
Police, according to Keye's widow, allowed the family to see the footage before it was released to the public.
"What I've seen today was horrific," she said.
Captain Kelly Muniz, in LAPD's video, said that officers were on patrol when they spotted a speeding driver at around 4 a.m. on Aug. 19. Dash-cam video shows the patrol car following the suspect's Cadillac as the driver drove erratically and ran several red lights.
The video also shows police chasing after the suspect's car for more than a minute before the deadly crash, while using their lights and sirens sparingly.
However, police said the lights and sirens stayed on when the driver turned onto Manchester Avenue, blaring for 15 seconds until officers called the pursuit off.
"The officers turned off their police vehicle's emergency lights and sirens, indicating they would no longer be attempting to stop the vehicle," Capt. Muniz says in the released footage.
Within about four seconds of turning their sirens off, the suspects collided with the victims.
Body-worn camera footage then shows officers chasing after the suspects, who exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot. Three of them were arrested at that time.
Just a few hours after the crash, a spokesman for LAPD adamantly denied there was ever a pursuit.
"We want to be clear, this was not a pursuit, okay?" This was not a LAPD pursuit. Officers never went in pursuit. They just activated their lights and sirens to do a traffic stop and that vehicle just took off," LAPD Public Information Officer Jeffrey Lee said at the time.
At a Wednesday press conference, Keye's widow called LAPD out for its denials.
"They lied on several occasions and I just want them to own up to what they did and give justice because at the end of the day, you have two innocent people who lost their lives to something that could have been prevented," she said.
LAPD now said it's special traffic investigators are conducting a pursuit investigation and added that that the process could take months to complete.
The driver of the Cadillac is now facing several charges for vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run.
