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Four arrested in Pasadena Christmas crash that killed woman, boy

By Adolfo Flores
 and Hector Becerra
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Two victims were in a Pasadena hospital Wednesday and four suspects were arrested as police continued to investigate a deadly car crash Christmas night that left a woman and a boy dead.

Police were attempting to stop a sport utility vehicle on a traffic violation near the scene of a fatal shooting earlier Tuesday when the SUV sped off, leading officers on a pursuit, said Pasadena police Lt. Pete Hettema.

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After a brief high-speed chase the SUV came to a stop when it crashed into another vehicle about 8:15 p.m. at Marengo Avenue and Maple Street near the 210 Freeway.

“The vehicle took off at a high rate of speed and blew a red light on Maple and hit a minivan with four people in it,” Hettema said.

A 26-year-old woman and an 11-year-old boy in the van were killed, and two were taken to the hospital. Their conditions were unknown. The identities of the occupants of the minivan had not been released.

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‘Everyone in the suspect vehicle was taken into custody,” Hettema said.

Hettema said there were two women and two men in the SUV. All four -- Jayda Amays, 18; Brittany Washington, 21; Darrell William, 22; and DeMauria Hannah, 22 -- were arrested on suspicion of murder, said Sgt. Greg Afsharian of the Pasadena Police Department.

They were taken to the hospital as a precaution because the airbags in the SUV were deployed. Hettema said it was unclear whether the people being pursued were connected to the shooting, which left one man dead and another critically wounded. The shooting occurred about 11 a.m in the 1900 block of Newport Avenue near Wyoming Street.

“They were being stopped for a traffic violation, but units were looking for suspects in the area,” he said. “They were in the area of the homicide, and running from police in the area makes it look like they wanted to get away for a reason.”

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-- Adolfo Flores and Hector Becerra

L.A. Now
Adolfo Flores

Adolfo Flores is a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He previously covered Orange County for the Metro section. Flores had reported for the Pasadena Sun and Pasadena Star-News, where he was a City Hall and public safety reporter. He was awarded a fellowship by the Metlife Foundation in Aging Fellows Program in 2010 and a second-place Los Angeles Press Club award for news feature in 2013. A Los Angeles native, Flores graduated from Cal State Northridge and is a fluent Spanish writer and speaker.

Hector Becerra

Hector Becerra is managing editor of the Los Angeles Times. A native Angeleno who grew up in Boyle Heights, Becerra’s first foray into journalism was as the editor of the University Times at Cal State Los Angeles. He started his career at the Los Angeles Times in 1999 and was a general assignment reporter until 2014, covering everything from wildfires to crime to Latino cultural trends. He has been among the first to a murder scene as part of a ride-along in South L.A. and has tried his hand as a field worker, picking strawberries in Santa Maria. Becerra was part of the team of reporters that won the Pulitzer Prize’s Public Service award for its coverage of the city of Bell corruption scandal. He was city editor for the California section until 2022, when he was promoted to deputy managing editor. He was named managing editor in 2024.

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