(L.A.) Jose Ochoa, 34, Died in South Gate

Case Number: 2023-13714

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 34-year-old Latino male that occurred at an intersection.

The coroner’s office identified the man as Jose Ochoa.

Manner of Death: Accident

Cause of Death: Blunt-Force Trauma

RIP JOSE MAURICIO OCHOA, JR. (November 11, 1988 – October 9, 2023)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Monday at 3:13 p.m.

The decedent was fatally injured when a law enforcement pursuit ended in a crash in South Gate.

Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had begun pursuing a Range Rover on Monday afternoon in East Los Angeles, where the vehicle had been reported stolen.

The pursuit ended around 3:30 p.m. when the driver crashed into several other vehicles near Southern Avenue and State Street.

A man driving a Nissan Sentra was pronounced dead at the scene, and a woman in a Toyota 4Runner was injured.

One suspect was taken into custody, and deputies sought two other suspects, who ran from the crash scene.

UPDATE: In 2026, Kaelenn Sinaukoko Maea, a 29-year-old resident of Long Beach, was sentenced to 26 and a half years (318 months) in federal prison for orchestrating the violent three-city armed robbery spree that culminated in the high-speed police pursuit and the fatal car crash.