Crash sends L.A. police car off road, killing 2 boys

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles County sheriff ’s patrol vehicle heading to an emergency call crashed with another car and then ran onto a sidewalk, killing two small boys and critically injuring their mother, authorities said Friday.

Two other people in a crosswalk were injured in the Thursday night crash as deputies responded to a report of a gunshot victim, Los Angeles police Capt. Alfonso Lopez said. Investigators were still trying to determine whether the patrol vehicle was using its emergency lights and siren at the time.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families and all those affected by this tragic accident,” a sheriff ’s department statement said. The agency said it is cooperating with a city police investigation.

A witness, Julie Valle, said the SUV was speeding and didn’t activate its lights until it reached the intersection, just before it collided with another car, ran off the road and hit the woman and her two boys.

“They turned the lights on at that moment, a split-second, not enough time for anybody to get out of the way because they were going so fast,” she said at a news conference Friday.

Valle said she rushed toward the crash and saw an injured woman.

“She was trying to get up,” Valle said. “I told her, ‘Don’t move, you were just involved in a car accident.”’

Valle also said she saw the boys.

“All I see is little legs,” she said. “Then I see a boy, and that’s when I start to get the full picture.”

Luis Hernandez told the Los Angeles Times that the victims were his brothers, 7-year-old Jose Luis and 9-year-old Marcos. The 7-year-old died at the scene, and the older boy died at a hospital, relatives told the paper.