LOS ANGELES—Two Los Angeles Police Department officers were injured, one seriously, when a sedan being driven on the wrong side of the street collided with their patrol car, authorities said Dec. 5.
Southwest Area Gang Officers were in a marked patrol car with its lights and siren activated, responding to a request for a backup on a man with a gun call in Baldwin Hills about 5 p.m. Dec. 4, the department reported.
As the officers proceeded southbound onto Hillcrest Drive from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard they observed a dark Nissan sedan traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of traffic, police said.
The Nissan accelerated toward the police car while driving on the wrong side of the street, police said. The driver officer maneuvered the police car to avoid a head-on collision. The suspect changed his vehicle’s direction and collided with the passenger side of the police vehicle, police said.
The officers were taken to a hospital. One officer suffered a minor injury, and the other officer suffered “significant” injuries, the LAPD reported.
“Last night a Southwest GED unit was rammed by another vehicle trapping the passenger officer and banging up his partner pretty good,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore said in a statement released Monday morning.
“I visited the passenger officer this morning, bedside at the hospital,” Moore said. “Asking for prayers for his recovery.”
Jose Nicholas Lopez, 21, of Los Angeles, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer with bail set at $50,000.
Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to call the LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division at 213-486-6890. Anonymous tips can be made by calling 800-222-8477.
