A Hawthorne man pleaded not guilty on Thursday to two counts of second-degree murder stemming from a 2025 crash on the San Diego (405) Freeway near Bel-Air that killed a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant and another motorist, MyNewsLA reported.
Source: MyNewsLA — Man Pleads Not Guilty in Crash That Killed LAPD Sergeant, Second Man (Oct 22, 2026)
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Louis T. Parise Jr. agreed to the prosecution's request to order Mario Joseph Bickham, 36, to be held without bail, noting what the judge described as a long, documented driving history with accidents and citations and two failures to appear involving speeding tickets. Bickham had been jailed in lieu of $4 million bail since his first court appearance on June 30. He is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on November 4.
What prosecutors allege happened in 2025
According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, the crash occurred shortly after 2 a.m. on June 23, 2025, on the southbound 405 just north of Moraga Drive. Jesus Garcia, 34, was driving home from work when his Toyota pickup was struck by an unknown driver and became disabled, blocking the HOV lane and another lane. The hit-and-run driver has never been identified, prosecutors said.
Sgt. Shiou Deng, 53, stopped in his marked patrol vehicle, activated his emergency lights and got out to help Garcia. In a court filing, Deputy District Attorney Eric Siddall wrote that 33 vehicles safely passed the scene in about two minutes before Bickham's car struck the patrol vehicle, the disabled Toyota and the two men. Garcia died at the scene and Deng was pronounced dead at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors allege the data recorder from Bickham's 2023 Nissan Maxima showed he was driving at 112.5 mph five seconds before the crash — in a section posted at 65 mph — and applied hard brakes in the seconds before impact. Bickham was seriously injured in the crash. The allegations have not been proven in court.
Charges: two counts of second-degree murder, pleaded not guilty on October 22, 2026. Custody: held without bail. Next court date: November 4, 2026. MyNewsLA reported that if convicted as charged, Bickham faces two potential life prison terms.
Deng had served 26 and a half years with the LAPD, including 17 years in its Mental Evaluation Unit, and was promoted to sergeant in 2023 and assigned to the West Los Angeles Division, according to statements from LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell cited in earlier reporting on the charges.