As LAPD mourns officer’s death in collision, key questions arise

Los Angeles police investigators were working Saturday morning to unravel the details of an early morning hit-and-run collision that killed one officer and left another in critical condition.

Speaking at a morning news conference, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said that the investigation into the Harbor City crash was ongoing -- and that many important questions remain unanswered.

“Only two individuals know exactly what the officers were doing,” Beck said. “One is severely injured. The other one is deceased.”

By mid-morning, investigators had been able to string together only a “really, really preliminary” idea of what occurred around 3:55 a.m. near the intersection of President Avenue and West Anaheim Street in Harbor City, said LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith.

Based on the positions of the wrecked cars and the account of the severely injured officer, Smith said, it is believed that the patrol car was following a white Camaro traveling eastbound on Anaheim Street.

The Camaro and the patrol car both made U-turns. The third car involved in the accident, a Chevy Tahoe, also heading eastbound, appears to have hit the driver’s side of the patrol car as the officers were completing their U-turn, Smith said.

He said the department did not yet know if the sirens or lights were on in the patrol car, or if drugs or alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.

The driver of the SUV who hit the patrol car fled the scene on foot. Police located and detained a “person of interest” about a mile from the accident, Smith said, but had not yet arrested the individual as of 11:30 a.m.

No other information was available about the individual, who may have been the driver or a passenger in the vehicle.

“We’re trying to ascertain his involvement in the situation,” Smith said -- adding that because the cars involved were destroyed, investigators will have to look at film from the patrol car to figure out what happened.

“It’s really tough,” he said.

The officer killed in the collision, 32-year-old Roberto Sanchez, was a six-year veteran assigned to the Harbor Area. His partner was in critical but stable condition Saturday morning.

The accident was the third death of an LAPD officer in a traffic collision in the last two months.

Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered flags flown at half staff.

“Officer Sanchez died a hero, but that does not lessen the blow to his family and fellow officers,” the mayor said in a statement. “This third loss of an officer in the line of duty in just two months is a stark and tragic reminder of the dangers our first responders face every day.”

eryn.brown@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATerynbrown