LASD Sgt. Calls For Change After Son Dies In Wrong-Way Crash On 605 Freeway
COMPTON (CBSLA) — A L.A. County Sheriff's Department sergeant is calling on politicians to take action after her son died in a wrong-way crash on the 605 Freeway.
Anthony Thompson, Jr. died four days before Thanksgiving when a woman drove the wrong way onto the 605 Freeway in Baldwin Park and hit Thompson's car head-on. He was 24.
Both drivers died in the crash.
Sgt. Ottawa Cureton-Dunkentell says her son had a smile that was hard to miss and he followed in her footsteps, serving the community as a guard at the Twin Towers Jail in downtown L.A.
"He was my friend. He was my counselor. Whenever I was down he was there for me," she said. "He assisted me in the Academy because he was the type of young man who was independent."
She is now calling on the governor of California and the president of the United States to push for a system to prevent people from going on the freeway in the wrong direction.
"I don't want any other mother or anyone else to endure the pain that I'm enduring," she continued. "A mother is not supposed to bury their child. Their only son. And he's my only son."
The CHP is investigating whether alcohol played a role in the crash that killed Thompson.
His family says they do not have any bad feelings against the driver or her family.
In fact, they say they forgive her.
Thompson's funeral is set for next weekend.
