
PALMDALE – A man and a woman were killed Saturday night when the vehicle they were riding in collided with a sheriff’s patrol car and spun out of control near a Palmdale intersection, authorities said.
Both passengers were thrown from the back seat of a Ford Explorer and pronounced dead at the scene of the collision, which occurred around 4:25 p.m. near the intersection of 17th Street East and Avenue R in Palmdale, according to Captain Gretchen Jacobs of the California Highway Patrol.

Jacobs said the deputy was driving a sheriff’s patrol car eastbound on Avenue R, while the Ford Explorer was traveling northbound on 17th Street East.
“It’s unknown at this time whether the Explorer stopped for the stop sign or not, we have conflicting information about that,” Jacobs said. “We have conflicting on the speeds of the vehicles.”
The patrol car struck the left side of the Ford Explorer, which caused the Explorer to spin out of control, Jacobs said.
Two of the four people in the Explorer were ejected, and investigators are still trying to determine whether or not they were wearing seatbelts, Jacobs said. The driver and front passenger were wearing seatbelts, and they were not injured in the collision, Jacobs said.

“The deputy has been taken to the hospital with some injuries. I don’t know to the extent of those injuries,” Jacobs said.
The incident is still under investigation and no names are being released at this point. Neither of the parties had been drinking, officials said.
The collision occurred within city limits, but the California Highway Patrol was asked to take over the investigation because it was a deputy-involved collision, according to Captain Don Ford of the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station.
“Typical these types of investigations do take quite a few weeks, even up to months,” Jacobs said.
UPDATED 12/15/13: The deceased have been identified as 20-year-old Sara Paynter of Van Nuys and 31-year-old Robert Delgadillo of Palmdale, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office. The 36-year-old male deputy involved in the collision sustained “moderate” injuries, according to a California Highway Patrol report. We will continue to follow this story.
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