A Los Angeles police sergeant was arrested in Orange County over the weekend after authorities say he hit and killed a pedestrian while driving intoxicated and fled the scene.
Tustin police identified the driver as Carlos Coronel, who was booked into jail Saturday night.
Coronel was taken into custody after he reported for work at Newton Division, hours after the incident happened, according to multiple LAPD sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Coronel did not respond to an email at his work account and it’s unclear whether he has retained an attorney.
Tustin police Sgt. Ryan Newton said officers there were called about 3:57 a.m. Saturday to report of a person down in the street in the area of Nisson Road and Del Amo Avenue. When they arrived, the found a man suffering from injuries from being struck by a vehicle; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Newton said the investigation led police to suspect that Coronel had been drinking and they arrested him later that day, without elaborating further. He said the department expects to release additional details about the incident on Tuesday.
The Orange County coroner’s office did not immediately respond to inquires about the identity of the man killed in the crash.
Department records show that Coronel joined the LAPD in August 2008.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell sent a statement to the Times that said: “Let me be clear: the actions alleged in this case are absolutely unacceptable. Sergeant Coronel’s alleged involvement in a felony hit-and-run is not only disturbing, but it betrays the trust of the public and the oath we take as law enforcement officers. There is no tolerance for criminal behavior within this Department, and I want to assure the community that we will continue to cooperate with the Tustin Police Department and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office as their investigation continues.”
It’s the second time in less than two months that an LAPD officer has been arrested for a drunk driving fatality, following a Christmas Eve incident in Ontario in which a bicyclist was killed.
Prosecutors in San Bernardino County say charges are pending against rookie LAPD officer Aaron Kleibacker, 39, who is accused of driving under the influence during a fatal collision on Dec. 24.
Ontario police said they arrested Kleibacker after his vehicle struck and killed 38-year-old Fabio Cebreros of Chino. Police said Kleibacker initially fled the scene before returning and cooperating with their investigation. He was booked into the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and released on Christmas Day, according to an online jail roster.
The department has not responded to questions about Kleibacker’s status.
On Jan. 15, a Hollenbeck training officer was arrested for driving under the influence after an incident at the Imperial County off-road camp grounds in which he overturned a 4×4-style vehicle, with his wife and two young children on board. According to the California Highway Patrol, the officer was booked on suspicion of felony DUI while causing injuries and his wife was airlifted to a nearby hospital to be treated for her injuries.
The spate of arrests are the latest in a series of incidents involving alcohol, a persistent issue in the LAPD.
Last April, an off-duty lieutenant who has posted anti-drunk-driving messages online was charged with felony DUI in connection with a crash on the 605 Freeway in Santa Fe Springs that injured at least one person.
The lieutenant, Matthew Ensley, allegedly had a blood-alcohol level that was more than twice the legal limit when he was arrested. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and is expected to return to court this month to set a date for his preliminary hearing. His statewide policing certification has been temporarily suspended, pending the outcome of his criminal case.
Drunk driving, and the department’s supposedly lenient handling of such cases, has received scrutiny in the past by the Police Commission. The civilian oversight body voted to tighten the department’s alcohol policy, lowering the acceptable blood-alcohol level for an off-duty, armed officer to 0.04% in some situations.
Under the current rules, first-time offenders can sign a so-called contract with the department which spares them serious punishment as long as they agree to abstain from buying or drinking alcohol for several years.
The commission weighed in on the issue of off-duty drinking in response to a 2021 Times report suggesting that the department has failed to develop clear policies despite multiple cases in recent years in which officers who were off the clock and armed allegedly caused trouble — including shooting people while intoxicated.
Several former LAPD officers have also lost their statewide policing certification after repeated DUI arrests.
One, James Fillmore, a former Valley Bureau homicide detective, lost his POST certification after sustaining two DUI convictions in six years. Fillmore was suspended for 10 days without pay after his first conviction in 2016. Six years later, he was charged again for drunk driving and later convicted after authorities say he crashed his unmarked city vehicle into two parked cars while drunk.
