Update: Suspect’s Name NOT Released Today, Christmas tragedy: Rookie CHP officer killed by suspected drunk driver
AGENDA 21 RADIO
BY PAUL PRESTON
Update: DECEMBER 27, 2017 4:45 PM PST
According to California Highway Patrol Srgt. Nacke the suspect’s name in the crash that killed Rookie CHP officer Andrew Camilleri Sr was originally scheduled to be released today after 5:00 pm. Officer Nacke returned a call made by Agenda 21 Radio at 4:45 pm today and announced the suspect’s name would not be released until Friday afternoon. Nacke was not sure why the hospital had not released the name other than to state the hospital was claiming a right to privacy for the suspect because he was still a patient. When pressed that the suspect was under arrest and had no privacy rights officer Nacke offered no further explanation except to say the hospital would release the suspects name by Friday. When the name is released on Friday Agenda 21 Radio will ask the Highway Patrol if there has been a request by ICE for a detainer on the 22 year old suspect.
Update: DECEMBER 27, 2017 8:51 AM PST
Suspect Name to be Released Today. According to California Highway Patrol Srgt. Nacke of the California Highway Patrol (CHP), Golden Gate Division the 22 year old suspects name in the crash that killed Rookie CHP officer Andrew Camilleri Sr. will be released before 5:00 pm pst today. Officer Nacke stated the hospital had not released the name but was expected to do so today. When asked if the citizenship and residency status of the suspect would be released as well Officer Nacke stated: “I don’t know, I’ve never been asked that question before.”
No one is letting the public know the driver’s name or his legal status. Why?
HAYWARD — Rookie CHP officer Andrew Camilleri Sr. had dreamed of wearing the uniform since high school and was working his first Christmas Eve shift, trying to the keep the roads safe from intoxicated drivers. But he couldn’t save himself when, just before midnight, a suspected drunken driver drifted off Interstate 880 and slammed into the back of his patrol car.
The crash crushed the officer’s SUV, injuring Camilleri’s fellow officer Jonathan Velasquez and killing Camilleri as his three children slept at home in Tracy. On Christmas morning, his wife Rosanna was still struggling with how to break the awful news.
“This is not the way we wanted to celebrate Christmas Day,”Asst. Chief Ernest Sanchez said. “It’s definitely not the way we wanted the community to think of the 2017 Christmas holiday, but today’s not a holiday for the highway patrol. Today is the tragic loss of one of our own.”
Emotional Tribute for Fallen CHP Officer
The collision occurred near State Route 92 and the Winton Avenue on-ramp. A red Cadillac, which was being driven by a 22-year-old Hayward man at “a very high rate of speed,” careened into the shoulder of the road, ramming into the right side of the CHP vehicle, Sanchez said.
“The impact was so severe that it turned a utility vehicle into a very small compact vehicle,” Sanchez said.
Camilleri and Velasquez, who was seated in the driver’s seat, were participating in the department’s Maximum Enforcement Patrol to ensure the safety of motorists during the holiday season.
Sanchez said he believes that the suspect was “coming home from a party and had obviously had too much to drink and maybe too much to smoke.”
“They were going to open their Christmas presents first before Rosanna tells them,” Andrew’s mother, Sharon Camilleri, said through tears Monday morning.
Andrew Camilleri was 33 and had only graduated from the CHP Academy in March, his mother said.
“Today is the tragic loss of one our own, who we will consider a hero now and forever,” CHP Assistant Chief Ernest Sanchez said at a morning news conference.
The officers’ SUV was parked on the shoulder of I-880 near State Highway 92 late Sunday night as they patrolled for dangerous drivers. Camilleri was in the front passenger seat, and Velasquez was behind the wheel. The Cadillac was driving so fast that the impact crushed the SUV into “a very small compact vehicle,” Sanchez said.
The crash shut down all southbound lanes on I-880 until 9:40 a.m. Monday.
Velasquez, another young officer in the Hayward division, suffered minor injuries and was treated and released from Eden Medical Center, Sanchez said. “He will live with this tragedy of his seeing his partner die.”
The CHP on Monday afternoon had yet to disclose the name of the 22-year-old driver who was being treated for serious injuries at a hospital. Officers believe he was under the influence of marijuana and alcohol when he got behind the wheel and headed south on 880. Sanchez said he was coming home from a party, and “obviously had too much to drink and too much to smoke.” The crash was reported shortly before midnight on Sunday.
“Today, I’m not only disappointed but also angered in that I had to notify a mother and three children that their father had (died) at a local hospital after being impacted by a person who chose to drive irresponsibly,” Sanchez said. “That is the message today on Christmas Day: These irresponsible and senseless acts need to stop.”
Camilleri was the latest victim in a growing number of fatal collisions on Bay Area roadways involving drugs or alcohol, Sanchez said. Between 2010 and 2016, the number of fatal crashes in the Bay Area increased 43 percent with speed, unsafe turning, and driving under the influence the top three contributors, according to an analysis by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Who is the 22 year old driver who killed the CHP Officer Christmas eve? Is there a cover up going on with the CHP because the 22 year is an illegal alien in the soon to be Sanctuary State known as California?
— Paul Preston (@a21rpaul) December 27, 2017
Earning his badge was a long-time dream for Camilleri, who was part of the CHP’s Explorer Program in high school, his mother said. But it wasn’t one he realized right away — instead he got married and had children, built a career at Clark Pest Control, and put off enrolling in the rigorous 27-week CHP training program.
He finally enrolled in the CHP Academy last year, and graduated March 3. He got a big kick out of the traditional run that marks the event: Graduating cadets run five miles from the academy building in Sacramento to the California Peace Officers’ Memorial across from the Capitol, while their fellow cadets line the route, poised in push-up position.
“I was very proud of him,” Sharon Camilleri said. “Very, very proud.”
The Christmas tragedy was an emotional blow to his fellow officers at the CHP. Camilleri is the second CHP officer to die in the line of duty this year, according to an online database maintained by the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, a union that represents CHP officers. Officer Lucas Forrest Chellew was killed in a crash in February in South Sacramento while pursuing a vehicle.
“Andrew was drawn to this profession due to his courage, his integrity and his desire to serve,” said Capt. Tim Pearson, commander of the CHP’s Hayward division. “The consequences of this action affect the department statewide, but that pales in comparison to what his wife and three children now have to live with.”
Camilleri’s family said he was a “hands-on dedicated father” to his 12-year-old daughter and 6- and 2-year-old sons. He was scheduled to work Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, so the family celebrated on Friday.
On Christmas Eve, his mother Sharon Camilleri was spending the holiday at her sister Michele Speciale’s house in Monterey. At 2 a.m. Christmas morning the phone rang. It was Andrew’s wife, Rosanna. Sharon had to get to the hospital “right now,” Rosanna said. “Something happened to Andrew.”
In shock, Sharon Camilleri and her daughter, 27-year-old Ashley Wharton, jumped in the car and rushed to Hayward. The drive took an hour and a half, and the two women’s minds were racing. Camilleri kept thinking that if they got pulled over for speeding, she’d tell them her son was the CHP officer in the hospital, and they had to get to him.
When they got there, he was already gone. The family is still in shock, Sharon Camilleri said, even though a small part of her had known this day might come.
“It’s always in the back of your mind,” she said, “when you’ve got somebody in law enforcement.”
