Woman killed in Compton crash was being chased, family says
A man and a woman were killed early Tuesday morning when their vehicle crashed into a Los Angeles County fire truck in West Rancho Dominguez. Authorities previously thought the car was involved in a street race, but now the woman's family is saying they were being chased.
The crash happened around 12:32 a.m. at South Avalon Boulevard and East Compton Boulevard, according to California Highway Patrol.
The fire truck was on its way to a traffic collision at the time of the crash, said the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Four firefighters suffered minor injuries, two of whom have already returned to work.
Witnesses told investigators they saw two cars speeding down Compton Avenue when one of them collided into the fire truck. A man and a woman inside the vehicle that crashed died at the scene.
Family members of the woman killed have identified her as Asia Allen-Bookman, 26. Despite witness reports, they strongly maintain that their loved one was not racing at the time of the violent collision.
"My sister was going through a stage in her life where she was trying to bloom into a butterfly," said the victim's sister, Tiffany Acker. "To get to her horizons."
Bookman was a passenger in the PT Cruiser that slammed into the firetruck.
"My sister wasn't racing," Acker said, claiming that Bookman was on the phone prior to the crash saying that someone had been chasing her. "You can't race a PT Cruiser. She was being chased."
Bookman was a young mother and leaves behind a 3-year-old daughter.
The male victim has since been identified as 27-year-old Signal Hill resident Montae Cook. The other vehicle that appeared to be "chasing" the PT Cruiser did not remain at the scene. The vehicle was a light colored sedan.
