Wrong-Way Driver Rams Patrol Car, Injuring 2 Officers: LAPD

LOS ANGELES, CA — Two Los Angeles Police Department officers responding to a request for backup with lights and siren activated, were hurt when a wrong-way driver rammed their patrol car, the LAPD announced Monday.

The department released footage from the crash and asked for prayers for the injured officers. Both were hospitalized following the Sunday night crash in South Los Angeles. One officer suffered a minor injury and the other sustained major injuries.

"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."

Following the crash, Jose Nicholas Lopez, 21, of Los Angeles, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, according to the LAPD. His bail was set at $50,000.

The crash occurred at about 5 p.m. Sunday at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Hillcrest Drive as gang unit officers rushed to provide backup on a report of a man with a gun near Hillcrest Drive and Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard.

The officers were in a marked black and white police vehicle with their lights and siren activated as they headed southbound onto Hillcrest Drive from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to the LAPD. At the same time, a dark Nissan sedan was heading northbound in the southbound lanes of traffic and accelerated towards the police car, the LAPD alleges. The officer behind the when tried to avoid a head-on collision, but the suspect changed his vehicle’s direction and collided with the passenger side of the police vehicle, according to a statement released by the LAPD.

Anyone with information on this case is urged to call the LAPD's Robbery Homicide Division at 213-486-6890. Anonymous tips can be made by calling 800-222-8477.