A man who survived being hit by a car on a Van Nuys boulevard on Thursday evening was run over seconds later by a second car whose driver dragged him for several blocks and then fled, Los Angeles police said — and on Friday detectives appealed for the public's help to find that driver, with a reward of up to $50,000 offered for information.
Source: Los Angeles Police Department statement, via MyNewsLA / City News Service
The Los Angeles County medical examiner's office identified the man killed as Ramon Noriega, 33. His place of residence was not disclosed. Police said Noriega was pronounced dead at the scene by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics after the second vehicle ran over him as he lay in the road.
Source: Los Angeles Police Department statement, via MyNewsLA / City News Service
What happened on Victory Boulevard
Officers responded at about 5:55 p.m. on Thursday, November 5, to Victory Boulevard between Willis Avenue and Cedros Avenue in Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. A blue Volvo V70 station wagon travelling eastbound struck Noriega as he crossed the road, police said.
Source: ABC7 Los Angeles (KABC)
The Volvo's driver stopped, as the law requires, and was cooperative when officers arrived, according to police. The station wagon was left at the scene with a shattered front windshield, ABC7's AIR7 helicopter video showed.
Source: ABC7 Los Angeles (KABC)
As Noriega lay in the street after that first impact, an eastbound red sedan ran over him. “The victim became trapped underneath the vehicle until he was dislodged,” the LAPD said in its statement. The sedan's driver continued northbound from the scene, failing to stop and render aid, or to identify themselves, as required by law, police said. ABC7 reported the man was dragged for several blocks and came free in front of Van Nuys High School, where dark skid marks ran down Cedros Avenue to the spot where a tent was set up over his body.
Source: Los Angeles Police Department statement, via MyNewsLA / City News Service
The search for the red sedan and its driver
Police said the driver of the red sedan appeared to be female. No fuller description of the driver or the car had been released in the reports available on Friday, and detectives from the LAPD's Valley Traffic Division are leading the investigation. The Volvo driver is not being sought and continues to cooperate, police said.
Source: Los Angeles Police Department statement, via MyNewsLA / City News Service
The investigation closed the area for hours on Thursday night. Metro announced at about 7:50 p.m. that buses were being detoured in both directions, from Victory Boulevard and Van Nuys Boulevard to Oxnard Street and Kester Avenue, until 11 p.m. while police worked at the scene, according to the first police reports of the crash.
Source: Los Angeles Police Department statement, via MyNewsLA / City News Service
Anyone with information is asked to contact LAPD Valley Traffic Division Officer Hansen at 818-644-8255 or Detective Martinez at 818-644-8033; outside business hours, call 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247). Anonymous tips go to LA Regional Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS. A reward of up to $50,000 is available for information leading to the driver's identification, apprehension and conviction, or resolution through a civil compromise, police said.
Why this case turns on witnesses
Hit-and-run investigations are built on the first hours: a licence-plate fragment, a dashcam clip, a doorbell camera on a side street. California law requires every driver involved in a collision to stop, render aid and identify themselves — the three duties police say the red sedan's driver failed. Los Angeles backs its appeals in fatal hit-and-run cases with a standing reward programme, and in this case the reward runs to $50,000. For Valley residents — including the large Punjabi and South Asian communities across the San Fernando Valley who drive Victory Boulevard daily — the appeal is direct: anyone who was on Victory or Cedros on Thursday evening and saw a red sedan, or whose camera recorded one, holds the piece detectives are asking for.
Source: Los Angeles Police Department statement, via MyNewsLA / City News Service
What happens next
Valley Traffic Division detectives will work the witness and video evidence to identify the red sedan and its driver, who faces arrest when found; leaving the scene of a fatal collision is a serious criminal offence, and police have framed the case from the start as a search for a named suspect vehicle rather than an accident inquiry. Noriega's identification by the medical examiner means his family has been notified through official channels. Police have not announced any arrest, and the investigation remained open on Friday night.
Source: ABC7 Los Angeles (KABC)