A grieving family is suing the Long Beach Police Department to learn information about the crash that killed their family member and a second fatal wreck allegedly caused by the same driver.
Ahkeyajahnique Owens, a 24-year-old Long Beach woman, is accused of speeding through a red light at Atlantic Avenue and Sixth Street on Jan. 4, slamming into a Nissan Altima and killing two people inside. Three months earlier, authorities allege, she also killed 35-year-old Raul Agustin Galloppa as he rode a bicycle back to his Alamitos Beach home.
Galloppa’s family has been trying to find out more information about the first crash for months.
Police have publicly released some basic details: Owens, they said, struck Galloppa on Fourth Street around 7:55 p.m. on Oct. 6, leaving him seriously injured. Owens was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor reckless driving, but was quickly released.
Galloppa’s girlfriend, Megan Sengnalyvong, said she was close enough to hear the crash. She said she spoke to officers at the scene and at the hospital, but she hasn’t heard a word from them since — even after Galloppa died in the hospital weeks after the crash.
She and Galloppa’s family, which lives more than 5,000 miles away in Argentina, hired a lawyer who filed a records request asking for any reports and other documents about the crash. It was met with a blanket denial. They later added a request for information about the second crash Owens allegedly caused, but were similarly denied.
The victim’s father, Raul Antonio Galloppa, said they don’t understand why. “We want to process our grief,” he said in Spanish.
Galloppa’s family filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the records be released. This week, the department acknowledged it wrongfully withheld at least some records from them. (The admission came shortly after the Long Beach Post inquired about the lawsuit. Police declined to answer questions about whether that factored into their decision.)
Police officials say they’re now working to release more information, but Galloppa’s family will still pursue its lawsuit, according to their attorney, James Perry. He said they’re not convinced the LBPD will hand over everything the law mandates.
California requires police to publicly release only limited information about crimes, such as basic factual circumstances and details of any arrests. Crash victims or their surviving family, however, are entitled to more, according to David Loy, legal director for the First Amendment Coalition. That includes reports with the names and statements of witnesses to the crash, Loy said.
Galloppa’s family says Long Beach originally refused to release any of this information, claiming a blanket exemption because it was part of an investigative file. The only recourse to challenge this is to sue, Loy said.
“We have the same information as the general public and we feel like as a family, we should have the information of why this happened,” Yanina Galloppa, the victim’s sister, said in Spanish.
Perry, a former prosecutor who now practices personal injury law, said he routinely files records requests for things like 911 audio, witness statements, investigative reports and results of any DUI tests. It’s crucial information, he explained, to determine who’s at fault and decide whether his clients should sue.
Perry called the department’s initial refusal to release any records, not even ones with sensitive investigative information redacted, “terribly concerning.”
“It’s not fair to the public, it’s not fair to my clients, and it does a disservice to the laws that have been repeatedly interpreted in this area,” he said.
What’s more, Galloppa’s family said they learned from the Long Beach Post’s news coverage, not police, that Owens had been re-arrested and was now believed to be responsible for the second deadly crash.
At that time, months after Gallopa’s death, Owens had still not been charged with killing him. When asked about the timing, a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office spokesperson said such investigations can routinely take that long: “Prosecutors must thoroughly review evidence, including witness statements, forensic data, accident reports and toxicology results.”
Once Owens was finally charged with manslaughter, authorities issued a warrant for her arrest, but that was two days after she allegedly ran the red light at Atlantic Avenue, killing the two people in the Altima. Owens fled the wreck on foot and soon after, police allege, she called dispatch to try to report her car had been stolen.
On Jan. 6, the same day the warrant for Galloppa’s death was issued, she responded by coming to the police station and turning herself in, authorities said.
Owens is now charged with two counts of murder in addition to manslaughter. In a brief jailhouse interview, she declined to answer questions about either crash.
Galloppa’s family, meanwhile, is awaiting their chance to convince a judge that they’re entitled to more information about his death and the investigation into it.
“We want to turn our grief into accountability so that this doesn’t happen again,” said Yanina Galloppa. “We want answers.”