Hermosa Beach Police Beat
Crash leads to felony arrest
A man is in custody after allegedly threatening to kill his girlfriend while driving near Hermosa’s civic center. Rodrigo Valerio Luna, 39, was arrested the evening of Jan. 30 on suspicion of attempted murder, domestic violence, making criminal threats, and assault with a deadly weapon, said Sgt. Mick Gaglia of the Hermosa Beach Police Department. He has been booked into Los Angeles County Jail and is being held in lieu of $1,000,000 bail. Luna was driving down Valley Drive with his girlfriend who was sitting in the passenger seat, Gaglia said. The two began arguing, and he allegedly began assaulting her. At some point during their argument, Luna allegedly rammed his car into the car in front of him, Gaglia said. The impact from that crash caused the car Luna struck to hit the car in front of it. None of the occupants in either of those two crashes were hurt. Police officers arrived on scene to investigate the crash, and found a woman crying and bleeding from an apparently broken nose, Gaglia said. After asking her some questions, police determined that the injuries had been sustained in an attack prior to the car crash. Although police suspect that Luna deliberately crashed his car into the car in front of him, it is unclear why or what connection it might have had to the argument with his girlfriend. The “deadly weapon” in the assault charge is Luna’s vehicle.