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Police investigate chase, crash that killed 8
[August 11, 2009] DINUBA, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities in California's Central Valley have offered counseling to the officer involved in a weekend police chase that ended when a stolen car smashed into a pickup, killing five young children from the same family and three others, police said Monday.
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The Highway Patrol and local police on Monday were investigating the Saturday chase, and Dinuba Chief James Olvera said Officer Marcos Nunes -- a five-year veteran who conducted the pursuit -- has been put on paid administrative leave. An initial investigation indicated that proper procedure was followed in the case, Olvera said Monday. He wouldn't disclose any information about Nunes' job performance. Lt. Devin Popovich, head of patrol operations, is reviewing the case "to make sure the guidelines were followed," Olvera said. The chase began when Nunes saw a car run a stop sign then speed off. Police said it later broadsided a truck containing the family of Carlos and Jennifer Salazar, and their five children. After the accident, police learned the car had been stolen at gunpoint earlier that day at a restaurant in nearby Selma. Dead at the scene were Jochelyn Grace Salazar, 7; Monique Janae Salazar, 4; Michael Alexander Salazar, 3; and Sienna Rose Salazar, 1. On Sunday Carlos Eric Salazar, 8, died in the Fresno hospital where his parents remain in fair condition. No one in the truck was wearing seatbelts. Friends say the family usually travels in a minivan equipped with child seats. It is unclear why they took the truck on Saturday. Three teenagers died in the vehicle police were chasing: Driver Oscar Esparza, 17, of San Diego; Arthur Rivas, 19, of Dinuba and Richard Carrasco, 16, of Dinuba. Olvera said the two Dinuba teens were known to police, but he declined to say more. |
