Police body camera footage shows the harrowing moment a 16-year-old girl burned to death following a horrific car crash in Los Angeles last month.
Destiny Villanueva, 16, died in a car after the 14-year-old driver crashed while speeding away from police trying to stop traffic, after noticing the vehicle’s headlights were off shortly after the crash. midnight on February 20.
“It’s raining, we’re not going to go chase them,” one officer can be heard telling another over the radio in the newly released body camera footage.
Shortly after, surveillance footage from across the street reveals the moment the Toyota Camry hits a traffic pole at Balboa and Ventura Boulevard at high speed and then ignites.
The official heroes are seen rushing to the rescue of the teenagers. ‘You can go out?’ one asks.
Surveillance footage from across the street reveals the harrowing moment the Toyota Camry crashes into a traffic pole.
The 14-year-old driver crashed while speeding away from police who were trying to stop traffic.
Destiny Villanueva, 16, died in a car accident early on February 20 in Los Angeles
“No,” the driver responds, as the doors do not open.
“I can’t go out, my leg hurts,” one of the girls is heard saying.
The officers are then seen breaking the windows of the smashed car and piercing the airbag with a pocket knife.
‘You have to get out of the car, get out,’ the officers shout as the flames seem to get worse.
“Get the driver out,” one officer is heard telling the other, before asking the passenger, “Is there anyone else in the car?”
‘No,’ she answers while lying on the sidewalk.
After removing the driver and eighteen-year-old passenger from the car, the officers drag the girls to safety down the street from the burning wreckage.
Police are again trying to confirm with the teens that they were the only two people in the vehicle.
The officers are seen breaking the windows of the wrecked car and piercing the airbag with a pocket knife.
After removing the driver and eighteen-year-old passenger from the car, the officers drag the girls to safety down the street from the burning wreckage.
The vehicle was completely engulfed in flames and Villanueva’s only son was pronounced dead at the scene.
The girl who had initially claimed that it was only the two of them who had been rescued, then changes her story and says, “No, three.”
Police body camera footage shows officers running back to the vehicle and attempting to save the third passenger in the back seat, as he was identified as Villanueva.
However, the vehicle was completely engulfed in flames and Villanueva’s only son was pronounced dead at the scene.
Responding firefighters found his body in the back seat, wedged under the driver’s seat.
A family friend described Villanueva as a “precious daughter whose light went out too soon” in a GoFundMe fundraiser created in his mother’s name.
The driver and surviving passenger escaped with minor injuries, police said.
Police confirmed the driver “did not show any signs of impairment” after the collision.
The three people in the car were friends and lived near each other, authorities confirmed.
The incident remains under investigation and it is not yet clear if the driver will face criminal charges for the crash.
Police have yet to say whether the car was stolen or belonged to the underage driver’s family.