Crime & Safety
Young LAPD Officer Killed in Torrance Crash
Erick Alcaraz, a resident of Carson, was pronounced dead moments after the 5 p.m. crash.
Originally posted at 1:16 p.m. Sept. 7, 2014. Edited with new details.
A 24-year-old off-duty Los Angeles police officer was killed Saturday evening when his motorcycle crashed into another vehicle in Torrance, the Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed today.
Erick Alcaraz, a resident of Carson, was pronounced dead moments after the 5 p.m. crash at 234th Street and Western Avenue, Coroner’s Lt. Fred Corral said.
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He was the sixth LAPD officer to be killed in a traffic crash this year, the department confirmed.
“The entire LAPD is grieving the loss of a young officer killed in an off-duty traffic collision,” LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said. “Our hearts go out to the family, friends and co-workers of this fine officer during this difficult time.”
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Los Angeles police officials said Alcaraz, a Marine Corps veteran, had been a patrol officer for 18 months. He had just finished his one-year probationary period at the Southwest Community Police Station on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to police.
Today would have been his first day assigned to the West Los Angeles area.
Alcaraz leaves behind his mother and father, according to the statement.
In the crash, Alcaraz’s personal motorcycle, a 2014 Yamaha R6, hit the side of a car at an intersection, according to a statement from the Torrance Police Department.
“The driver of the car was about to turn northbound on Western (from 234th Street) and the motorcyclist was southbound on Western,” Torrance police Lt. Brian O’Steen said.
Alcaraz’s motorcycle hit the side of the car and he died at the scene, O’Steen said.
A 53-year-old woman driving the other vehicle, a 2013 Kia Optima, was not injured and was not transported to an area hospital, according to a statement from the Torrance Police Department. She was the lone occupant in her car. She was treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Torrance police’s Traffic Division asked anyone who saw the crash to call them at (310) 618-5557.
--City News Service
PHOTO Courtesy the LAPD.
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