Prosecutors say years of triple-digit speeding citations helped elevate the case after the freeway collision claimed two lives.
Mario Joseph Bickham, a 36-year-old Hawthorne man, was charged Monday with two counts of second-degree murder for a high-speed freeway crash that killed a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant and a Whole Foods employee who had just finished his shift.
Bickham was driving his 2023 Nissan Maxima at more than 112 mph when he struck LAPD Sgt. Shiou Deng and motorist Jesus Garcia on the southbound 405 Freeway near the Getty Center around 2 a.m. on June 23, 2025, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman. Garcia, 34, had just finished his shift at Whole Foods in Woodland Hills when his Toyota pickup was struck by a hit-and-run driver who has never been identified, leaving the truck disabled in the southbound HOV lane. Another driver swerved to avoid Garcia’s truck and struck the freeway median a short distance away.
Deng arrived on scene in his patrol vehicle and activated his emergency lights to warn oncoming traffic. Thirty-three vehicles safely passed the disabled cars before Bickham approached in his sedan and struck Deng, who had stepped out of his cruiser, and Garcia, who was standing outside his truck. Garcia died at the scene. Deng was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, where he was pronounced dead. Bickham suffered serious injuries in the crash but survived.
A data recorder pulled from Bickham’s Nissan showed he was traveling 112.5 mph five seconds before impact and applied hard braking in the final seconds, according to a court filing from Deputy District Attorney Eric Siddall. California Highway Patrol Southern Division Chief Chris Margaris said Bickham’s speed meant he was covering roughly half the length of a football field every second, and CHP investigators spent months reconstructing the crash before charges were filed a year after the collision.
“This was an absolute tragedy because it was a preventable crash caused by a conscious disregard for the safety of others,” Margaris said.
Prosecutors said Bickham’s driving record factored heavily into the decision to pursue murder charges rather than a lesser offense. Hochman said Bickham had been cited for speeding multiple times over 15 years, including two citations for driving more than 100 mph, one of them for 105 mph just a month before the fatal crash. Bickham was ordered to appear in court on that citation and failed to show, according to the district attorney. He has also been involved in multiple car accidents dating back to 2014. Records show no other criminal history.
“This is not an individual who all of a sudden woke up one day and this was the first time he ever hit a speed over 100 miles per hour,” Hochman said.
Bickham was arrested June 29 by the California Highway Patrol and booked at LAPD’s 77th Street station before being transferred to Men’s Central Jail. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Theresa McGonigle ordered him held on 4 million dollars bail. He is due back in court for arraignment Aug. 11 in Department 30 of the Los Angeles Municipal Court on West Temple Street. If convicted as charged, he faces the possibility of life in prison.
Deng, 53, spent more than 26 years with the LAPD, 17 of them in the department’s Mental Evaluation Unit, which assists officers responding to crisis calls. He joined the department in 1998 and worked in the Central and Southwest divisions before his transfer to the Mental Evaluation Unit. He was promoted to sergeant in 2023 and assigned to the West Los Angeles Division. He is survived by his wife, Candelaria; stepdaughter, Stephanie; father, Wei Ka; mother, Jen Shu; and brothers Shiou Yuan and Shiou Nick. He was the primary caretaker for his elderly parents at the time of his death.
A funeral service was held for Deng on July 24, 2025, at Forest Lawn – Covina Hills Mausoleum in Covina. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom both offered tributes. Bass called Deng “the gold standard of selflessness” and said his integrity and character had been evident in everything she learned about him. Newsom said in a statement that he and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom were heartbroken by the loss of a sergeant who dedicated more than 26 years to serving the Los Angeles community with pride and purpose. Flags across the city and over the State Capitol were ordered to fly at half-staff following his death.
“Sergeant Deng lived his life the way most of us wish we could, with kindness, with humor, and with purpose,” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said at the funeral. “He didn’t just do the job, he lifted up people doing it beside him. He made people laugh when they needed it most. He made them feel seen, valued and included.”
McDonnell also called Deng “the heartbeat of the watch,” crediting him with keeping morale up among fellow officers at West LA. LAPD Det. Victor Lopez, who worked alongside Deng, said his colleague never lost his commitment to the job, including during a stint as a gang officer on the city’s south end. Scores of mourners gathered outside the West Los Angeles station where Deng worked following his death.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, mounted officers and honor guard members gather at Forest Lawn – Covina Hills Mausoleum in Covina for the funeral service of Sgt. Shiou Deng. (LAPD)
A GoFundMe organized by Garcia’s family described him as a loving son, brother, uncle and friend whose kindness and warmth touched everyone he met.
While hospitalized for leg injuries from the crash, Bickham was listed as co-organizer of an online fundraiser titled “Support Mario’s Road to Recovery,” posting a photo of his bandaged, hardware-fitted leg to the campaign page along with an appeal for 5,000 dollars to cover medical bills and a replacement vehicle. Reporting on the fundraiser’s current status is mixed, with some accounts describing it as still active and others reporting it has since been taken down.
Bickham’s public Facebook profile lists him as an employee of the Department of Homeland Security since February 2023 and shows recent posts as of late June 2026, including photos of himself posing shirtless and displaying tattoos.
FormerLawman has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Homeland Security seeking to confirm whether Bickham is employed by the agency, his position, and whether DHS has taken any administrative action following his arrest on murder charges. This article will be updated if and when the agency responds.
