An off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer died in a fiery one-car crash in Santa Clarita overnight, and a woman who was not involved in the collision was arrested for driving through the scene of the investigation.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the crash was reported at 2:14 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Cinema Drive and Bouquet Canyon Road, not far from the Valencia Mart Shopping Center.
Firefighters were the first to arrive on scene and discovered the vehicle fully engulfed in flames. The male driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
“While deputies investigated the deadly crash, a separate driver plowed through the active crime scene perimeter,” an LASD spokesperson said. “Deputies arrested the woman on suspicion of driving under the influence.”
The woman’s name was not immediately released.
There were reports that the decedent in the crash was an off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer, and an LAPD spokesperson confirmed that detail just before 9 a.m. Saturday.
The spokesperson did not disclose the officer’s name but did say that more information would be released after the officer’s next of kin is notified.
Alexis Lewis and Luis Zuñiga contributed to this report.