The Los Angeles Police Department has admitted to being in pursuit of a vehicle involved in a deadly crash — after first denying it was part of a police chase.
The crash on Aug. 19 killed 35-year-old Janisha Harris, a mother of two, and 38-year-old Jamaree Keyes, a father of five, reports show. The police agency backtracked from initial denials after pressure from the victims’ families to release footage of the accident.
The police videos show the moment the suspect fleeing police runs a red light and T-bones Harris and Keyes’ BMW. Police said the suspect, Matthew Sutton, 20, was going 68 miles per hour when he flew through the intersection. Officers were pursuing him for speeding.
Tanya Keyes, Jamaree’s wife, said what she saw on the video was “horrific.” The victims’ families want the driver and the LAPD to be held accountable.
“I can’t really say that it’s closure, but at least we have the truth,” Tanya Keyes said.
LAPD dash and body-camera video show patrol cars chasing Sutton for more than a minute before he runs the final red light. They turned the sirens and lights on and off intermittently, but they decided to end the pursuit and turn off the lights and sirens about four seconds before the collision, CBS Los Angeles reports.
“The officers turned off their police vehicle’s emergency lights and sirens, indicating they would no longer be attempting to stop the vehicle,” Capt. Kelly Muniz says in the released footage.
However, an attorney for the victims’ families’ Jasmine Mines, said the officers were still in pursuit of Sutton after they shut off the emergency signals.
“Even though the sirens were off, the officers were clearly still in pursuit. Initially, the LAPD officers stated they retreated and there were 15 seconds from the time they retreated to the time of the collision that ended in fatality. LAPD stated they were not engaged in any chase,” Mines said.
The officers chased Sutton and three passengers by foot after the crash, reports show.
Still, hours after the accident, LAPD Public Information Officer Jeffrey Lee denied the collision resulted from a police chase.
“We want to be clear. This was not a pursuit, OK? This was not a LAPD pursuit. Officers never went in pursuit. They just activated their lights and sirens to do a traffic stop and that vehicle just took off,” Lee said.
The police agency says now that it is conducting an investigation into the chase, which could take months to complete.
Sutton was arrested for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, fleeing a police officer’s motor vehicle causing death and hit-and-run driving resulting in injury to another person, reports show. He also had an outstanding burglary warrant and is being held on $550,000 bail.
“They lied on several occasions, and I just want them to own up to what they did and give justice because at the end of the day, you have two innocent people who lost their lives to something that could have been prevented,” Jamaree’s widow said.
