Attention Southern Californians
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Posted on 01/29/2009 3:11:57 PM PST by La Enchiladita
A three-time Culver City police officer of the year was killed Wednesday on the eastbound Santa Monica (10) Freeway in the Palms area when his car was struck head-on by a wrong-way driver, who also died in the collision, according to the CHP.
The collision that took the life of Culver City police Sgt. Curt Massey occurred about 5 a.m., just west of National Boulevard, the California Highway Patrol reported.
"Curt was a very special police sergeant and friend,'' Chief Don Pedersen said of the 17-year veteran of the department. "He was kind, thoughtful and always went out of his way to help others. He was a consummate professional. He will be missed by all the members of the Culver City Police Department, and the community today has lost a dedicated police sergeant.''
Massey, 41, was the sergeant assigned to the Juvenile Detective Bureau and was dedicated to programs for at-risk teens, Pedersen said. He had been a mentor for youth in the Juvenile Diversion program, the CCPD School Resource Officer program and the annual Santa's Sleigh program.
Massey had a wife and children ages 3, 8 and 10, Pedersen said.
According to California Highway Patrol Officer Miguel Luevano, Massey was driving east on the Santa Monica Freeway when his 2009 Dodge Charger collided with a 2006 Toyota Camry being driven the wrong way by Luis Palma, 21, of Van Nuys. Massey's car burst into flames. Both drivers died at the scene.
(Excerpt) Read more at wavenewspapers.com ...
I don't care if he's "documented" or not, he killed a good man, a very good man and now the good man's children are fatherless and his wife is a widow.
Ping. I just can’t get over my anger at this senseless loss.
What a horrible tragedy. I understand your anger over this senseless loss, dita. My heart goes out to his family, his friends, and the Culver City PD.
Just Google "confirmation bias." For a better handle on it.
Please ping me with any Southern California related articles. Thank you!
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Driving the wrong way on a Freeway at 5:00 am, you know there had to be drugs or alcohol involved. That’s strike one and two. If he’s an illegal too, he’s hit the ultimate manslaughter trifecta.
What a shame to see a good officer like this cut down for no reason at all.
I hope they take this idiot of the road for a few decades. If he accidentally tripped into the gas chamber, it wouldn’t bother me all that much.
Drunk and in the wrong country.
DRT
Thanks Deaf Smith. I did read the article, but I sure screwed that part of my response up. Good call.
If you find any more details regarding the driver, Luis Palma, ping me if you could.
from the LA Times:
On behalf of Massey’s family, the department has set up the Sgt. Curtis Massey Memorial Fund. Donations can be sent to Culver City Employees Federal Credit Union, 9770 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232.
Some people improperly call it prejudice (PRE-judging a situation).
In many of these cases it's really POSTjudice. Judging AFTER being presented truckloads and truckloads of evidence that this is how these things happen.
his car was struck head-on by a wrong-way driver, who also died in the collision, according to the CHP.
I think he's dead? A better justice.
Thank you. I appreciate that we have a PC-free zone to be real and honest.
Yes, I let my anger at him taking out the officer, overtake my realization that he already paid the ultimate price.
Thanks for your correction.
Disgusting... how the hell do you go the wrong way on the 10? There’s a 4ft concrete median the entire run
Tragedy all around
SGT Curt Massey, Gone Too Soon...
All fwy exits and entrances to this fwy in this region are very well marked.
I would guess one of the three.
1. Suicide
2. Totally intoxicated
3. Lunatic
Yes, way too soon. I’m so sorry for his family.
Police and fire crews on the scene paused and saluted when Massey's flag- draped body was removed from the wreckage and loaded into an ambulance.
Very, very difficult to do. Most off-ramps curve sharply and are one lane. He would have had to ENTER the freeway via an offramp....
So did I at first, then I read it a 2nd time. Disgusting.
Yes it is.
You know how this works, drive-bys (appropriate name) will protect the perp. It will be difficult to ascertain. I expect KFI John & Ken to be on it. I can only find a full name thus far: Luis Arnoldo Vanegas Palma.
Did you also catch the U-Haul high speed chase yesterday? That was a doozy: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/01/u-haul-chase-su.html
L.A. was “snakebit” yesterday.
Dayum. Quite a picture.
[shudder]
I once came upon a head-on that had happened not too long before I got there. Emergency vehicles where there but hadn’t yet cleaned up much yet. One of those little souped-up rice burners crossed the centerline at high speed hitting an 18-wheeler also moving at speed. The biggest piece of that car was the engine, sitting all by itself in the road. The next biggest pieces were all about a foot or so... and there were lots of them. All over. I couldn’t tell for sure but it was probably a red car. It’s like it was just obliterated in a shredder.
I’ve watched two friends die of cancer; I’ll take the sudden TA anyday.
I wouldn't expect them to leave his cremains on the road at all. He was also killed in the fiery crash, so it would be hard to gas (or inject) him.
Diito re the officer; totally senseless loss of a good man.
Yes, you’re the third or fourth person to mention that. I was angry at the loss of the officer, and let that over-ride my understanding that the perp had also died.
At least the guy won’t be back out on the street in six months, bragging.
DOWN the UP ramp?
"Bu.bu.but Lord, after being forced by an evil bar tender to get drunk, I accidentally went onto the OFF ramp, and was hurrying to get to the next ON ramp to get off, when this car came out of nowhere, and brutally attacked me! Eet wasn't my fault!"
You mean all those ‘One Way <-—’, ‘no entry’, and huge ‘WRONG WAY! GO BACK!’ signs on the ramps?
Maybe if they start putting one-way spikes, like in parking lots, at the bottom of the OFF ramps....
Thank you for the ping. Prayers will said for this Officer’s family and loved ones. May they know the Grace and Peace of Jesus Christ.
It will be five years this February that my late Father-in law , who was a retired California LEO was killed by a kid that ran a stop sign. We know the heartache.
That’s okay; if I could, I’d resurrect him three or four times, just to keep executing him over again...slowly and painfully.
Not that I’m vindictive or anything; I’m just thinking of the deterrent effect. ;-)
I thought of saying something like that. This whole thing sure disgusts people like us.
Oh, 4 names huh? From my experience, all these people with 4 names, sometimes 5 and 6 names, are up to no f’n good, and most of them just keep changing their names around to avoid being located, arrested etc.
Yeah, we caught a bit of U-Haul mamma. What a piece of work she was.
15, 12 and 9 years old, 15 YO driving, got into short pursuit, hit a curb, launched the entire vehicle...The vehicle actually struck the side of a home clear up near the fascia board, near the roof line...Ejected 2 of them, one was launched over a tall palm tree landing in the road, another was ejected and went head on into the home. The one kid that was ejected, well it was so violent, there was only a torso left, no head either. All 3 dead. Wits said beer cans were also ejected.
This was an extremely violent collision with this home.
Maybe because there was no mention in the headline or the article of the status of the offender? I'm in Arizona, and the paper just had an article about a school bus driver that passed out (according to some of the kids) and hit many vehicles before coming to a stop. You had to read down the article before coming to the tidbit that the bus driver was responding to police questions in "broken English". WTH are they doing driving school buses?
Are you in Fontana? I went the FOHI (many years ago).
Of course, now they've left most everyone else holding the bag.
Most of my family lived in Fontana at that time (many employed by Kaiser Steel). But when the illegals moved in with their extended families (20 people in one house), and Kaiser closed down, they relocated.
RIP.
This is heartbreaking news. This is a senseless loss from a totally avoidable accident. :(
I heard about that, too. Another one that had me shaking my head, trying to picture the 15 yr old driver and 11 year old passenger. I did not know there were more involved, nor that they hit a home. I just heard “brick wall.” Fontana is basically a truck-stop town, isn’t it?
Thank you for telling us about this. The hurt never goes away, does it? I stopped by Culver City police station this morning with flowers. All officers have the black band on their badges now.
My aunt was killed many years ago when, as a pedestrian, she was struck down by a drunk driver. I guess I have some anger there to call on at a time like this.
I found these comments and testimonies to SGT Massey: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/01/culver-city-is.html?cid=146779292#comments
It is no stretch to say this was a good man, invaluable to his community.
I still can find no more info on the perp. I checked AMW database as the name “Venegas” rang a bell, but nothing.
Thank you for the additional information.
Several years ago, while driving late at night through Watts, Calif., I had a terrifying moment when a 1954 Buick swung over to the wrong side of Imperial Highway and came at us on a head-on collision course. Fortunately, it moved to the proper side os the street before hitting our car. I figured that the driver must have been trying to get from some watering hole to his destination by osmosis.
Thanks, Fiji Hill. That was something you never forget!!
Bless you. I am so sorry about your Aunt.
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