Torrance Officer to Face Charge in Hit-Run of House

A Torrance police officer will face a misdemeanor hit-and-run driving charge for allegedly slamming his truck into the corner of a Redondo Beach house while off-duty and then fleeing the scene without identifying himself.

Redondo Beach City Prosecutor John Slawson said Wednesday that he will file the charge this week against Officer Roland Sabara, 34. Sabara, who will be ordered to appear at a Sept. 25 arraignment in Torrance Municipal Court, could be sentenced to as much as six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.

Sabara is accused of driving his blue 1989 Chevy Blazer through a wood fence and into the corner of a house at 615 Diamond St. in the early morning hours of Aug. 21, accident investigator Walter Sawall said.

A witness told police that the driver of the truck, which struck the house about 2 a.m., backed up and drove off without getting out to look at the damage.

Investigating officers found a half-mile trail of fluids that leaked from the truck, but the trail dried up before leading them to the vehicle, Sawall said.

The owner of the house, who told police that he slept through the incident, found a license plate belonging to Sabara’s truck as he surveyed the damage to his house.

Sabara, who is a patrolman for the Torrance Police Department, turned himself in at the front counter of the Redondo Beach Police station at about 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 21, roughly the same time the homeowner turned in the license plate, Sawall said.

Sabara said he wanted to pay for the damage he had caused, Sawall said.

“He said that he had fallen asleep at the wheel and bumped his head during the crash and then decided to drive home,” Sawall said. Investigators did not conduct blood-alcohol tests on Sabara when he came in to the station because of the amount of time that had elapsed since the crash.

Estimates of what it would cost to repair the house are not yet available, Sawall said, but he said it appeared to need several thousand dollars’ worth of work.

Torrance Police spokesman Sgt. Ron Traber said officials from that department also are reviewing the crash, but he said department policy would bar them from saying whether disciplinary action is taken against Sabara.

“Any time our people are involved in anything that is potentially criminal in nature . . . we conduct an internal affairs investigation,” Traber said. “Any internal affairs investigation could result in disciplinary action, depending on the outcome.”

Traber said Sabara would not be available to comment on the case.