Video shows moments after sheriff’s SUV hits pedestrians on sidewalk in Boyle Heights

Two boys were killed Thursday evening after they were struck by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department vehicle that was involved in a crash while responding to a radio call of shots fired, authorities said.

The three-car crash occurred about 7:30 p.m. in the 800 block of South Indiana Street in Boyle Heights. The impact thrust the sheriff’s vehicle onto the sidewalk, where it ran into a mother and her two children, ages 7 and 9, said Los Angeles police Officer Drake Madison, an LAPD spokesman.

A security video obtained by The Times from Green Mill Liquor Store shows the moments after a sheriff’s SUV drove onto the sidewalk and hit the pedestrians.

The clip shows the sheriff’s SUV after it had already struck at least two people. The vehicle appears in the frame from the side of a building. The video shows the split second after the front of the SUV – with its emergency lights on – hit a trash can. A person rolls into the frame on the sidewalk. Because the video has no audio, it’s unclear if the cruiser’s sirens were on.

Just moments before, the video shows a man walking through a parking lot next to the building abruptly turning and running toward the street just as the SUV appears, apparently reacting to the sound of the crash.

The clip is about eight seconds long.

Images from the scene show the crumpled right front side of the SUV and the tire folded under its mangled frame.

One child died at the scene, and one died at a hospital, he said. The mother is in critical condition, Madison said.

The second car involved in the collision then hit a third car, “causing injury to two additional adult pedestrians in the crosswalk,” Madison said.

In total, seven people were transported to local hospitals, Madison said. Authorities had earlier said that eight people were taken to hospitals. In addition to two deputies and three pedestrians, someone from one of the other two cars was transported to a hospital, Madison said.

L.A. County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said the department is working on a joint statement about the crash with the LAPD, but it’s too early in the investigation to say exactly what happened before the fatal crash.

Authorities have not determined who was at fault.

“It’s still very active and being investigated at this time,” Madison said.

The drivers of the two other vehicles remained at the scene. They were not injured.

In a separate incident in Perris, a girl was killed Wednesday night after a collision with a Riverside sheriff’s car near Perris Boulevard and Nuevo Road.

The deputy hit the pedestrian while responding to an unrelated call, said Riverside Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Vasquez. He would not release the girl’s name or age, saying only that she was a juvenile and that the deputy inside the patrol unit was unharmed.

The collisions comes less than a week after an 11-year-old girl was killed about a mile away from the Boyle Heights crash when she was struck by a car while standing by a taco truck. Three others were struck and injured that night, but were expected to survive.

The driver in that incident, Jose Louis Perez, was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, while a juvenile in the car with him was arrested on suspicion of possessing nitrous oxide, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Perez was heading west on Whittier Boulevard near Marietta Street when he crossed into eastbound lanes and crashed into the two parked cars, police said.

The impact thrust one of the cars onto the sidewalk, where it struck the pedestrians.

Staff writers Alene Tchekmedyian and Richard Winton contributed to this story.

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Twitter: @AleneTchek

UPDATES:

9:30 a.m.: This article was updated with details of the crash in Boyle Heights and the number of victims.

6:50 a.m.: This article was updated with more information about the Boyle Heights crash and information about a pedestrian killed in Perris.

6:05 a.m. Nov. 17: This article was updated with information about the ongoing investigation.

11:20 p.m.: This article was updated with more information about the crash.

9:55 p.m.: This article was updated to note that a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department vehicle was involved in the crash.

This article was originally published at 9 p.m. Nov. 16.