SAN DIEGO — The family of two young boys who were killed in a police pursuit on Interstate 805 in December 2023 are taking legal action against the city of San Diego.
CBS 8 obtained two legal tort claims, the first step prior to filing a lawsuit.
The tort claims allege San Diego Police failed to have a proper pursuit policy in place and the pursuit over a routine traffic stop was unnecessary.
On Dec. 8, 2023, San Diego Police tried to conduct the traffic stop, but the driver now identified as Angel Salgado, 20, sped away.
Police followed Salgado in a BMW sedan to Interstate 805 southbound. The tort claim says SDPD chased Salgado for several miles, "reaching high speeds," before Salgado tried to exit the 805 on the 43rd Street exit.
As he tried to exit onto the offramp, he crashed into a car and then a Honda sedan with Lizbeth Martinez, Victoria Hayes and her two children, Mason and Malikai Orozco Romero inside.
The Honda burst into flames and went into an embankment. All four passengers were transported to the hospital, but the boys, four and eight years old respectively, died at Rady Children's.
"SDPD made an incorrect assumption that simply by virtue of his fleeing, Mr. Salgado was a serious criminal suspect… there was no need to protect the public from Mr. Salgado nor any apparent need to immediately capture him," the claim reads.
CBS 8 spoke to the attorney representing the family of the young boys.
"There are many other ways that you can follow up or track a vehicle. There are eyes in the sky. There are other ways of getting to these folks. Take the license number of the vehicle and track it down, many other ways that are followed in other departments. And, I think, this was not the way to do it," said the attorney, Robert Hamparyan.
The death of the young boys in December led to a study by the city's Commission on Police Practices that recommended SDPD pursuits should only be initiated for violent felonies.
Then in August, a San Diego police officer was killed during a high speed pursuit in Clairemont. His partner was seriously wounded. The 16-year-old driver being pursued was also killed seconds after the pursuit was called off by a SDPD supervisor.
Current SDPD policy allows a supervisor to call off high-speed pursuits taking into consideration the seriousness of the offense and the risk to public safety.
"I feel horrible for the San Diego police officers that were injured and killed and it's, again, a sad reminder that the victims could be on both sides of the fence. It could be a police officer who's doing his job but has no other better policy to follow what there is, which isn't the proper policy," said Hamparyan.
Salgado, the driver involved in the police chase that killed the two boys, is due back in court on Wednesday. He is charged with a string of felonies, including two counts of murder. His trial currently is set for January.
The city of San Diego declined to comment for this report because a claim against the city is considered pending litigation.
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