LOS ANGELES — A former Los Angeles police officer was sentenced to 15 years in state prison Friday for a 2017 drunk driving crash that killed three members of a family on the 605 Freeway, KTLA reported.
Edgar Verduzco, 34, pleaded guilty in April to three counts of murder and two counts of DUI-related charges, according to the report. He was off duty and driving at approximately 150 mph on Sept. 26, 2017, when he crashed into two vehicles.
One of the vehicles hit the center divider and caught fire, killing Maribel Davila, her husband, Mario, and their 19-year-old son, Oscar.
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A second vehicle, driven by a woman with a baby in a car seat, was also struck. Both occupants suffered minor injuries.
Shortly before the collision, Verduzco had posted a video to Instagram with the hashtag #dontdrinkanddrive, which appeared to show him at a bar.
Verduzco was initially released from custody after the crash due to insufficient grounds to file charges but was later arrested and formally charged.
On July 18, a Los Angeles County judge sentenced Verduzco to two concurrent 15-year terms for the murder counts and an additional concurrent three-year term for the DUI charges. Though the sentence allows for potential parole, it carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Following Verduzco’s arrest in 2017, then-LAPD Chief Charlie Beck expressed outrage: “I cannot tell you how angry and disappointed I am that a Los Angeles police officer would disregard the law and cause an accident with such awful, awful consequences.”
Verduzco was employed by LAPD at the time of the crash but is no longer with the department.
