SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- Nearly a year after two young boys were killed in a fiery crash during a San Diego Police pursuit, a Mountain View family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of San Diego.
On the night of Dec. 8, 2023, SDPD officers tried to pull over 20-year-old Angel Velasquez Salgado for a faulty headlight. However, police said Salgado refused to stop and sped away, prompting officers to give chase.
Five minutes into the chase, police said Salgado rear-ended a car with 8-year-old Malikai and 4-year-old Mason Orozco-Romero in the backseat. The impact killed the two boys and injured their mother, along with another woman inside the car.
The case has shaken many in the community and renewed conversation about police pursuit policies.
The family’s wrongful death lawsuit accuses San Diego Police of endangering the public with an unnecessary chase, adding police did not have probable cause that Salgado had committed a crime.
The case caused the city’s Commission on Police Practices to consider changes to the department’s policies to limit pursuits in the future.
Customs and Border Protection also changed its pursuit policies after several crashes.
After a year of vigils and efforts to remember the boys, family members like their grandmother, Karla Villa, say the crash should never have happened.
"They didn't deserve this, you know. They didn't totally deserve this and not the way that it happened,” said Villa. “So, I know God has them as big angels."
The City Attorney’s Office, the defendant in this case, said it does not comment on ongoing litigation.
