Los Angeles police have released video of a disturbing incident in which one of their officers fatally struck a skateboarder riding in the middle of the road in Highland Park.
Gerardo “Jerry” Estrada was killed in the Sept. 19 crash, which remains under investigation.
The officer driving was responding to a call in the 6100 block of Piedmont Avenue at 7:15 p.m. and headed north on Figueroa Street to help establish a perimeter while police searched for a felony warrant suspect, said Capt. Mike Bland, a department spokesperson.
The officer, Bland said, was driving with their siren on and emergency lights flashing when they hit Estrada.
In the video, captured by the vehicle’s dashcam, the police cruiser is seen weaving across lanes on Figueroa Street, at times driving on the wrong side of the street to get around vehicles stacked up and blocking lanes at a red light near intersections. Sirens can be heard in the background.
The vehicle is seen steering left toward the center median as it approaches another red light in the distance.
Two officers can be heard talking to each other as the car drives down the street, until one of the officers is heard saying, “Watch out, watch out, watch out!”
In the video, Estrada is seen on a skateboard in the center median. Estrada jumps off the skateboard, and briefly puts up both of his hands before he is struck by the car.
“Oh s—, dude!” one of the officers is heard saying as the patrol car pulls to the far left lane of the street.
“Oh f—!” the other officer says. “F—, man!”
Officers quickly jumped out of the vehicle and found Estrada wedged underneath a parked vehicle nearby, Bland said in a video statement released by the department.
Body camera from one of the officers, also released Tuesday by the department, shows the crash occurred just outside a carnival, where witnesses began to yell and urge officers to do something.
“Do something, there’s somebody f— dying!” one person is heard yelling.
The officers removed Estrada from under the car, and attempted to render first aid.
Firefighters who responded to the scene declared Estrada dead at the scene.
According to Bland, the crash is still under investigation, which could take months to complete.
LAPD officials did not immediately respond to questions on the identities of the two officers who were in the vehicle at the time of the crash.
The day following the crash, Estrada’s mother, Rosa Casares, told KTLA her son was headed home from work that night.
“He was a wonderful kid,” she told KTLA.
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