Vehicle crashes into 2 police cars

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- A 47-year-old Huntington Beach man believed to have been

driving drunk rammed his car into two police cars Saturday night,

completely destroying one brand new patrol car, officials said.

Two Costa Mesa police officers had parked their respective cars by the

curb of Placentia Avenue near Estancia High School and were conducting a

separate DUI investigation at about 8:20 p.m. Saturday, said Lt. Dale

Birney.

Guadalupe Esquivel, who was driving a truck, did not see the two

patrol cars with their lights flashing and crashed into the rear end of

one of them, he said. The first car then hit the back of the other patrol

car parked in front of it.

“The cars were not blocking the road,” Birney said. “There is a

bicycle lane there, but there was more than six feet of clearance. But

Mr. Esquivel didn’t make it around the patrol cars.”

Esquivel was traveling probably between 40 and 50 miles an hour when

he crashed, Birney said. The two officers were not injured and Esquivel

was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Birney said the patrol car that Esquivel hit directly was a “brand new

one” the city had bought recently.

“That one is now completely damaged,” he said. “The entire trunk was

pushed into the back seat.” The other unit suffered “moderate” damage and

both were towed to the city yard, Birney said.

He said Esquivel will not face additional charges for hitting police

cars from the court’s point of view, but will be billed by the city for

the damage he caused.

“If he has insurance, the city will collect money for a new unit from

the insurance company,” Birney said. “If he does not have insurance, the

only remedy is to sue him in civil court.”

A fully loaded patrol car could cost about $40,000 or more, he said.

He said almost exactly a year ago, a Costa Mesa police officer was

injured when a drunk driver rammed into his patrol car on Harbor

Boulevard the night of June 2, 2001.

“Fortunately, in this case, the officers were both standing on the

sidewalk,” Birney said. “But it probably still shocked them quite a bit.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .