In less than a minute, an arson suspect sped away from police and crashed into an SUV, killing a lady, according to California authorities. According to a news release posted on the Fountain Valley Police Department’s Facebook page, officers responded to an allegation of arson around 7:30 p.m. on Monday, December 2.
The suspect had already departed when authorities arrived, according to police. Officers discovered that, owing to “an ongoing domestic dispute,” the suspect doused a bush beside the home with lighter fluid and set it on fire, according to police.
According to police, the bush caught fire and spread to the residence, but the residents were able to extinguish it before officers arrived. Police claimed they discovered the suspect’s empty truck in a parking area approximately a half-mile away.
Officers were watching the truck when they noticed him getting into it and driving toward Brookhurst Street, according to police.
As police cars approached the suspect, he ran “at a high rate of speed” and was pursued by officers, according to police. After less than a mile of escaping officers, the suspect’s vehicle collided with an SUV at an intersection, according to police.
“The suspect ran the red light, colliding with a white BMW occupied by three individuals,” Sgt. Henry Hsu of Fountain Valley police told KTLA. Police reported that the three SUV passengers were transferred to a local trauma clinic.
One of the passengers, a 25-year-old woman, died on the way, according to authorities.
In an email to McClatchy News, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Sgt. Matt Timmins identified the woman as Hong Ngoc Nguyen, who was visiting from Vietnam at the time of the collision.
“In this case, officers were barely involved in a pursuit,” Hsu said KNBC. “Time was short, and the suspect gained an incredible amount of speed on his own, and unfortunately it ended in this fatality.”
According to authorities, the other passengers were “listed in critical and stable condition” on December 3. According to authorities, officers arrested the suspect following the crash.
The suspect was also sent to a trauma facility and was “in serious condition with non-life-threatening injuries,” according to police.
Specific charges against the 43-year-old Huntington Beach man are still pending, according to authorities.
In an email to McClatchy News on December 4, an Orange County District Attorney’s Office representative confirmed that he is anticipated to be charged on December 5.
Fountain Valley is roughly 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Reference: 25-year-old bystander killed when secondslong police chase ends in crash, CA cops say