Group honors Alhambra officer killed in collision throughout pursuit of a stolen automobile – NBC Los Angeles
A candlelight vigil in remembrance of fallen Alhambra Police Division Officer Alec Sanders, who was killed within the line of obligation when his patrol cruiser collided with an allegedly stolen SUV throughout a chase, was held Tuesday night time.
“I by no means heard one unhealthy factor about him,” APD Chief Garrett Kennedy stated after the vigil outdoors the division’s station. “After I would see him, I might ask him, ‘How issues are going? Does he benefit from the police division?’ He stated he beloved it.”
Kennedy stated Sanders’ household informed him that Sanders had a ardour for serving the neighborhood and being a police officer, that he simply ”really beloved coming to work. He beloved serving this neighborhood.”
Sanders, who had been with the Alhambra Police Division for simply eight months, was overlaying the shift of a colleague when he was fatally injured. He beforehand labored for a couple of 12 months with the Lengthy Seaside Police Division.
He’s survived by a fiancée, two youthful sisters and a brother.
Sanders, 28, died Thursday within the crash round 3 a.m. on the intersection of Edgewood Avenue and Valley Boulevard.
The crash additionally killed one of many passengers within the allegedly stolen silver Hyundai SUV. She was recognized as 42-year-old Gabriela Moreno, who was ejected from the automobile within the impression.
On Monday, the motive force of the SUV, Steven Ara Zapata, 27, of El Monte, was charged with two counts of homicide, one rely of reckless driving on a freeway inflicting a specified damage and two counts of fleeing a peace officer’s motorized vehicle inflicting dying.
Zapata additionally sustained reasonable accidents within the crash and was taken to a hospital, the place he was later arrested. It was unclear when Zapata would seem in courtroom for arraignment.
A 3rd individual within the SUV, a 52-year-old man, additionally sustained critical however non-life-threatening accidents.
