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Crime & Safety

Police Credit Online Tips for Arrests in Cyclist's Hit-and-Run Death

L.A. police '110 percent sure' they have arrested the right suspects, a woman and her father, in death of Chatsworth High senior.

Los Angeles police Tuesday credited online tips with helping to find and arrest 23-year-old Dominique Rush, and her father, Steven Rush, 44, both suspects in the hit-and-run death in April of 17-year-old Chatsworth High senior German Alex Romero of Canoga Park.

“We had a lot of information from witnesses and others who sent emails online right to the LAPD, 24/7,” said Capt. Ivan Minsal, head of the Valley Traffic Division. “It’s a new way to contact us, and the public used it.”

Minsal and more than a dozen detectives, plus Romero family members, gathered outside the Valley Traffic Division office on Tuesday afternoon to announce the arrests in the investigation of Romero’s death on April 20, in Canoga Park.

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Minsal said police are “110 percent sure” they have arrested the right suspects in Romero’s death. The pair had been tracked for about four weeks while police worked with the district attorney’s office and officers from the vehicle crimes task force.

On April 20, at 9 p.m., Romero and a friend were riding their bicycles northbound on De Soto Avenue in the far right lane just north of Valerio Street. Romero was struck and killed by a car. Romero’s friend was not injured.

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Dominique Rush, 23, was arrested early Tuesday in Oxnard, where she had been staying with her grandmother, Minsal said. She was booked at Van Nuys Police Station on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run, with bail set at $100,000, police said.

Her father, Steven Rush, who was also arrested Tuesday morning at his home in Porter Ranch, was booked on suspicion of being an accessory after the fact, police said. Bail was set at $20,000.

Police also recovered Dominique Rush’s car, a 2003 Toyota Corolla, which police said had been concealed out of town.

“The father was arrested for his actions post-event,” Minsal said. “He aided her in concealing herself and her vehicle."

Minsal said anyone who is involved in an accident has a duty to report it.

"This could have been brought to a close had she just stayed with the car and provided aid,” Minsal added.

Also attending the press conference were Romero’s family members, including his mother, Maria; older brother Juan; 13-year-old sister Alani and Maria’s sister Matilde Fuentes.

“We waited for this day in hopes we would have some kind of closure,” Fuentes said. “But every day it gets harder.”

Alani silently held a framed photograph of her brother playing soccer. Romero was a senior at Chatsworth High School who was to graduate in June.

“He had his whole life in front of him and was held in high regard at his high school,” Minsal said. “He deserved better than this.”

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