San Diego Police Officer Zachary Martinez is greeted by fellow officers as he goes home from the hospital. Martinez was severely injured and his partner was killed in a pursuit crash last week.Screen Shot from UC San Diego Hospital Video
San Diego Police Officer Zachary Martinez, who was critically injured in a crash last week that left another officer dead, was released Tuesday from the hospital.
Chief of Police Scott Wahl made the announcement Tuesday during a news conference at Sharp Memorial Hospital, Fox5 reports.
“Today is a great day,” Wahl said. “If you asked me a week ago that Officer Zach Martinez was going home, I wouldn’t have believed it, but that is the case.”
Martinez suffered burns, a broken neck and multiple facial injures from the crash that occurred on Aug. 26 just after 11:30 p.m. His patrol partner Officer Austin Machitar died at the scene of the fiery collision.
The crash occurred following a high-speed pursuit that was called off after the vehicle, driven by 16-year-old Edgar Giovanny Oviedo, did not pull over for nearby patrols attempting a traffic stop.
Shortly after, the suspect vehicle collided with the side of a patrol car that Machitar and Martinez were in.
Machitar died at the scene, while Martinez suffered critical injuries. Oviedo, who didn’t have a driver’s license at the time of the incident, according to California Department of Motor Vehicle records, died at the hospital.
Wahl said Martinez’s road to recovery “very long” and that “his list of injuries has not lessened.”
