Sheriff's deputies injured, pedestrian killed in crash

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (FOX 11 / CNS) - Two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and a pedestrian were hospitalized today after a vehicle crash in West Hollywood that claimed another pedestrian's life, authorities said.

The crash near the intersection of Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards was reported at 11:08 p.m. Thursday, Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatch Supervisor Kyle Sandford said.

The unidentified pedestrian died at a hospital. The two deputies were hospitalized in serious condition, as was the surviving pedestrian.

Santa Monica Boulevard was closed between San Vicente Boulevard and Hancock Avenue, a closure that was continuing late this morning, a sheriff's lieutenant said.

The deputies were responding to a report of a felony spousal assault, Cmdr. Keith Swensson said. As their patrol vehicle was heading eastbound on Santa Monica, it clipped the rear of another vehicle, ran over the curb and
struck the male pedestrians, Swensson said.

The patrol car was operating its lights and siren at the time, and it was not known if the vehicle it struck had yielded, as required by law, Swensson said.

One of the deputies was trapped in the patrol car, sheriff's Deputy Trina Schrader said.

The California Highway Patrol's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team was sent to conduct "an independent investigation into the causal factors of the collision," the sheriff's department reported.

The crash was a day after a 31-year-old L.A. County sheriff's deputy was killed and a 20-year-old woman was seriously injured in a head-on collision near Santa Clarita.

It happened about 9:40 p.m. Wednesday near San Francisquito Canyon Road and Stator Lane and claimed the life of Deputy Brandon Arce, who worked at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic. He died at a hospital, the sheriff's department said.

Arce joined the sheriff's department in fall 2007 and after graduating from the academy was sworn in as a deputy in 2008. He was the son of retired sheriff's lieutenant Gilbert Arce and was engaged to be married.