A former Los Angeles police officer has pleaded guilty to three counts of murder for a 2017 drunk driving crash that killed a mother, father, and their 19-year-old son on the 605 Freeway, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Friday.
Edgar Verduzco, 34, admitted to three counts of murder, one count of driving under the influence causing injury, and one count of driving with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent causing injury.
Verduzco was off-duty and speeding at 150 mph when he crashed into two vehicles on Sept. 26, 2017. One vehicle hit the center divider and caught fire, killing Maribel Davila, Mario Davila, and their son, Oscar Davila, a 19-year-old UC Riverside student. The second vehicle’s driver, a mother with a baby in a car seat, suffered minor injuries.
Shortly before the crash, a video apparently filmed at a bar was posted on Verduzco’s Instagram account with the hashtag #dontdrinkanddrive.
“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,” then-LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said at the time of his arrest.
Verduzco was initially released from jail due to “insufficient grounds to file charges,” but he was arrested and formally charged months later.
Hochman offered his condolences to the surviving members of the Davila family, and saying Verduzco’s actions were not fitting for someone entrusted to enforce the law.
“As a police officer, Mr. Verduzco was aware that recklessly driving under the influence of alcohol at 150 miles per hour was extremely dangerous to human life and could result in the death of innocent victims, as it tragically did in this case,” Hochman said. “[The three family members] were senselessly taken in an instant.”
Verduzco is scheduled to be sentenced July 11 and faces three concurrent terms of 15 years to life in state prison for the murder charges, as well as a concurrent three-year term for the DUI-related offenses.
