SUV Involved In Police Pursuit Plows Into Baldwin Hills Home, Kills 86-Year-Old Woman
BALDWIN HILLS (CBSLA) - A woman died Saturday and two other people were hospitalized when an SUV, being pursued by police, crashed into a house in Baldwin Hills and severed a natural gas line.
The incident began around 1:20 a.m. when 26-year-old Eliseo Ixchopcalel rear-ended a black and white police cruiser with his vehicle at Hobart Boulevard and Martin Luther King Boulevard. When officers approached Ixchopcalel's vehicle, he fled northbound on Western Avenue. Officers initiated a pursuit for reckless driver.
When the suspect attempted to negotiate a southbound turn near Buckingham Road, his vehicle ran off the street and into the northeast corner of a residence, crashing into the home's bedroom and trapping two elderly victims under his vehicle.
Paulina Zamudio lives in the home with her parents.
"And then I saw the car inside my parents' bedroom," she said. "I saw my dad but I couldn't find my mom."
Firefighters responded to the crash at 1:23 a.m. on the 3900 block of South Buckingham Road, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
Two Los Angeles Police officers arrived on scene in an attempt to rescue two residents who were trapped inside the residence, Humphrey said. There was no fire.
The woman, 86-year-old Aida Villavicencio, was pronounced dead at the scene.
A male resident and the SUV driver were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Humphrey said.
The police officers sustained minor injuries but declined to be taken to a hospital.
