LOS ANGELES (KNX) — The Los Angeles Police Department released footage Wednesday of a pursuit that led to a crash and the deaths of two innocent victims. Police initially insisted it was not a pursuit but later admitted it was.
Dash and body-cam video showed the moments just before and after a driver speeding away from police ran a red light and hit the victims' vehicle.
The crash killed Janisha Harris, 35, a mother of two, and Jamaree Keyes, 38, a father of five.
Families of the victims said they are angry with LAPD's initial denials that the incident was not a police pursuit. They had demanded the release of the footage.
"I can't really say that it's closure, but at least we have the truth," Tanya Keye's, Jamaree's wife, said. The widow said the department allowed the families a chance to view the footage before releasing it publicly.
"What I've seen today was horrific," she added.
Captain Kelly Muniz said officers on patrol spotted a speeding driver at around 4 a.m. on Aug. 19. Dash-cam video showed the patrol car following the suspect's Cadillac as the driver drove erratically and ran several red lights.
The video also revealed police chasing after the suspect's car for more than a minute before the deadly crash, using their lights and sirens as the driver turned onto Manchester Avenue.
"The officers turned off their police vehicle's emergency lights and sirens, indicating they would no longer be attempting to stop the vehicle," Capt. Muniz said in the released footage.
The suspects collided with the victims seconds later.
Body-worn camera footage showed officers chasing after the suspects, who exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot. Police arrested three of them.
Just a few hours after the crash, a spokesman for LAPD adamantly denied there was ever a pursuit.
"We want to be clear — this was not a pursuit," LAPD Public Information Officer Jeffrey Lee said at the time. "This was not an LAPD pursuit. Officers never went in pursuit. They just activated their lights and sirens to do a traffic stop, and that vehicle just took off."
At a Wednesday press conference, Keye's widow condemned the department's dishonesty.
"They lied on several occasions, and I just want them to own up to what they did and give justice," she said. "At the end of the day, you have two innocent people who lost their lives to something that could have been prevented."
LAPD now says its special traffic division is investigating the pursuit, a process that could take months to complete.
The driver of the Cadillac faces several charges for vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run.
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