LAPD Car Accident in Venice Fatality

Last Friday there was an accident involving the LAPD and civilian motorist Devin Petelski at Venice Boulevard and Glyndon Avenue. There are conflicting reports as to what occured, so if you were a witness leave a comment and help sort out what happened. Coverage of the accident can be read at SCPR, ABC,CBS and Zuma Dogg Blog.

From Sean at metblogs:

The facts:
Earlier this week at the intersection of Venice Boulevard and Glyndon Avenue in Venice, at 12:20am there was a car accident involving an LAPD cruiser with 2 officers and another vehicle driven by a woman. All three people were sent to the hospital, the woman subsequently died from her injuries. The LAPD has confirmed that the officers were not on a service call at the time of the accident.

The questions:
According to this article the LAPD is investigating the accident to determine what happened. According to the comments on that article by people claiming to be eye witnesses and residents who live on or near that intersection, the question isn’t what happened, but why. These comments piece together a story and timeline that suggests the LAPD cruiser was traveling between 50-70mph down Venice Blvd without lights or sirens on and hit a BMW driven by a woman squarely on the drivers side. Within moments 10 or more police cruisers arrived and began to close off the block as a crime scene but it was close to 15 minutes before an ambulance or emergency workers arrived. There is a lot of speculation and anger in the comments especially aimed at the LAPD reports and media who seem to be only covering one side of the story, and messing up details left and right. It’s worth reading.