Indian American charged with DUI, murder in police officer’s death

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Mohammed Ali, 22, an Indian American from Hayward, California was charged with second-degree murder on Tuesday killing a California Highway Patrol officer on Christmas Eve while driving under the influence.

According to an NBC Bay Area report, Ali was driving at the speed of 120 miles per hour when he rear-ended a parked patrol car on southbound Interstate Highway 880 in Hayward around midnight on Dec. 24, which killed Officer Andrew Camilleri and injured Officer Jonathan Velasquez.

Along with the murder charge, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, has charged Ali with driving under the influence of a combination of marijuana and alcohol.

According to KTVU San Francisco, witnesses saw Ali driving his Cadillac at a high speed in an aggressive way while weaving through traffic.

According to authorities, as Ali was speaking with paramedics at the scene, he admitted to ingesting marijuana and when he arrived at the hospital, his blood sample showed a blood alcohol content of 0.11 percent.

When Ali was interviewed by KTVU San Francisco following the crash, he admitted that he was driving after ingesting both alcohol and drugs.

He then told investigators that he had threatened his wife on the same night of the crash before he drove from Manteca to Hayward where he said he collided with an “unknown object.”

KTVU San Francisco reported that “Ali further related that he knew while driving on the night in question not only was he impaired but that he should have pulled over at least three times but did not and made the decision to keep driving.”

The California Highway Patrol said that Officer Camilleri and Officer Velasquez were parked on the shoulder of Interstate 880 in Hayward on Christmas Eve looking out for reckless or impaired drivers when just before midnight, a red Cadillac struck the officers’ patrol car from behind, killing Officer Camilleri and injuring Officer Velasquez though he was released from the hospital, the next morning.

Officer Camilleri, 33, is survived by his wife and three children.