A Future Dashed by a California Car Crash

Los Angeles, CAA recent California car crash took the life of an off-duty Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer just two weeks after she became engaged to be married.


Her fiancé, fellow LAPD police officer Jerry Rodelo, had just started his shift on February 25 when his supervisor took him aside to tell him that Jacqueline Montalvo had been killed in a car crash.

The two had become engaged on Valentine's Day just a few weeks previously. In addition to the excitement over their pending nuptials, the couple was also looking forward to taking their new boat out on excursions to Lake Havasu.

Montalvo, who was off duty on February 25, told Rodelo that she intended to have lunch with friends and then likely do some shopping. Sometime that evening, Montalvo's 2009 Infiniti G37 swerved across a median into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with a pickup truck. The resulting crash caused a four-car pileup in Diamond Bar. Montalvo was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators are at a loss as to what may have caused Montalvo to swerve into incoming traffic. Deputy Russell Townsley of the Traffic Services Detail told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that attending officers and investigators did not smell alcohol in Montalvo's car at the scene and are awaiting toxicology reports from the office of the coroner.

Given that the G37 was equipped with an electronic recorder, investigators are hoping to learn how fast the car was going at the time of collision and any insight into the car's mechanics that might explain what happened.

Rodelo is a officer with 15 years' experience with the LAPD. At the time of the accident he was stationed at the Hollywood Station, where Montalvo once worked and where the couple had met. Montalvo later moved to the LAPD Central Station, where she became a patrol officer.

Rodelo described his late fiancé as highly respected and sought after as a partner. "New and seasoned officers respecter her," he said.