An LAPD cruiser, a black sedan and a red SUV were left heavily damaged after a three-vehicle crash Friday morning, September 11, 2026, near East Vernon Avenue and Avalon Boulevard in the Historic South-Central neighborhood of South Los Angeles, and four people, including a police officer, were rushed to local hospitals.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said the crash happened in the 500 block of East Vernon Avenue around 10:56 a.m., according to MyNewsLA.com, which reported all four injured, including the officer, were taken to local hospitals. As reported by KTLA, an LAPD spokesperson said a call for assistance had come in around 11:11 a.m., and a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson said four patients were found at the scene. The extent of any injuries was not immediately available, per the outlet's report.
Video from Citizen.com cited in the KTLA report showed a heavily damaged LAPD cruiser sitting in the middle of the street, with a badly damaged SUV nearby. Security camera footage reviewed by local media a day after the crash showed the collision actually involved three vehicles — the LAPD squad car, a black sedan and a red SUV — according to CBS News, adding detail beyond the initial two-vehicle description. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and KTLA described the story as still developing.
What the Law Requires of Officers and Drivers
Whether the cruiser was on an emergency run when the crash happened has not been detailed in available reporting, but California law lays out clear rules for such moments. Under California Vehicle Code Section 21055, emergency vehicles responding to calls or pursuing suspects are exempt from standard traffic rules only when displaying a forward red light and sounding a siren as reasonably necessary, according to the California Highway Patrol. That exemption comes with a catch: Vehicle Code Section 21056 explicitly states that emergency driving exemptions do not relieve officers of the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of everyone on the road, per the same agency.
Civilian drivers carry obligations of their own. Under Vehicle Code Section 21806, motorists who see an emergency vehicle approaching with siren and red lights active must yield the right-of-way, pull to the right-hand curb clear of any intersection, and come to a complete stop, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
A Corridor Already Flagged for Safety Concerns
A Corridor Already Flagged for Safety Concerns The crash site sits on a stretch of Avalon Boulevard that city planners have targeted for years. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation designated a 6.5-mile segment of Avalon a Vision Zero Priority Corridor in 2017, and described lane reconfiguration and planned bicycle infrastructure, according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials. A City of Los Angeles Vision Zero report identified the project segment as running from Jefferson Boulevard to 120th Street and recorded 149 severe and fatal collisions on the segment.
A Recurring Pattern in LAPD Crashes
A Recurring Pattern in LAPD Crashes The Vernon and Avalon collision fits into a broader departmental trend. The broader record includes 1,032 injury-or-death collisions among 4,203 pursuits over five years. An LAPD study submitted to the Board of Police Commissioners further showed that nearly half — 496 — of all people injured in department pursuit crashes between 2018 and 2023 were uninvolved third-party bystanders, not suspects or officers.
It remains unclear when official findings on Friday's crash will surface. Available reporting does not establish whether accident reports involving police vehicle damage, arrests or severe injuries can be released online or whether a minimum 45-day administrative review period applies. Until then, the exact circumstances that put an LAPD cruiser, a sedan and an SUV into each other on Avalon Boulevard remain unresolved.
