LOS ANGELES – A pedestrian was hit by a car Wednesday afternoon during a vigil for a bicyclist who was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver a day earlier at the same location in South Los Angeles, video from the scene showed.
Now Los Angeles police are looking for the drivers and vehicles involved in both hit-and-run crashes.
Pedestrians and cyclists had gathered at the intersection of Normandie and Manchester avenues for the vigil remembering cyclist Frederick Frazier, 22, who was killed almost exactly 24 hours earlier after being struck by the driver of a white Porsche Cayenne, which didn’t stop.
About 100 cyclists were at the vigil, and some drivers appeared upset that they had difficulty getting through the intersection. Several vehicles, including an apparent older-model gold Toyota sedan, were seen trying to push through the cyclists.
When the Toyota began moving through the crowd, some cyclists appeared to punch at the car, according to a KTLA reporter who was covering the vigil. The Toyota then took off but returned, speeding through a red light at the intersection and striking the pedestrian, who went flying.
The KTLA news crew at the scene recorded video of the crash. The crew’s news photographer was nearly struck by the Toyota, which didn’t stop after striking the pedestrian and continued westbound on Manchester Avenue.
The pedestrian victim, who was apparently a friend of Frazier, was thrown in the air from the impact of the crash. He was able to get up and limped toward the sidewalk, where others ran to help him, the video showed.
He appeared to not be seriously hurt, at least initially. The car narrowly missed several other pedestrians and a dog, the video showed.
As it struck the pedestrian, the Toyota driver, apparently a woman, passed right by an LAPD patrol SUV that was stationed in the intersection for the vigil. The LAPD vehicle was stopped with its lights flashing.
The sergeant in that LAPD vehicle had happened upon the gathering by chance and was trying to clear the intersection with cyclists approached his vehicle violently, Ramirez.
“The group started surrounding him, and then started damaging the police car,” Ramirez said. “Hitting the vehicle, kicking it, throwing the bikes at it, and then also breaking a window and slashing the tires.”
Around the time of the confrontation with the police vehicle, the hit-and-run occurred.
The man who was struck appeared to have been trying to help keep things under control. He was treated by paramedics and taken to a hospital.
LAPD spokesman Officer Tony Im said the crash occurred about 1:05 p.m. when 30 to 40 people were in the intersection, blocking all lanes of traffic.
Im said police were looking for the driver and the vehicle that fled, which he described as an older model, tan four-door Honda Accord. KTLA’s video showed what appeared to be an early-2000s gold Toyota Avalon with a California license plate No. 8BUK639. The passenger side of its windshield appeared shattered.
The driver may have been afraid for his or her safety due to the size of the crowd, but that wouldn’t excuse fleeing the scene of a crash, Ramirez said.
“We’re asking for that individual to go to the police station … identify themselves and tell us their side of the story,” the captain said.
On Twitter, LAPD asked people to avoid the area, and described the incidents as a hit-and-run and an “officer needs help call.”