It’s happened again.
A heartless killer runs down a cyclist and flees the scene, leaving his or her victim crumpled and bleeding in the street.
This time, it happened in Orange County, as a 47-year old cyclist was hit and killed near the intersection of Serrano Road and Ridge Route Drive in Lake Forest around 10:10 pm last night. The rider, who has not been publicly identified, was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo suffering from severe head trauma, where he was pronounced dead early this morning.
Police are looking for a white van with possible front-end damage, which was last seen leaving the crash scene northbound on Serrano.
Photos from the scene show a mangled mountain bike with the headlight still glowing long after the crash, a lone sneaker giving mute testament to the fallen rider.
Anyone with information is asked to contact 855-TIP-OCCS or 855-847-6227.
This is the 11th traffic-related bicycling fatality in Orange County this year, and the 67th in the greater Southern California area. Of those deaths, 12 have been hit-and-runs, with 2 in Orange County.
That compares with a five-year average of 13 deaths in Orange County each year, and 68 in SoCal; however, it is far above the total of 55 cycling deaths in the SoCal area for the last two years on record.
The only area which has not yet recorded a bike death this year is sparsely populated Imperial County.
Update: LAist reports that the victim was turning onto Serrano from Ridge when he was struck by the van as it travelled north on Serrano.
Update: KABC-7 identifies the victim as 47-year old Randy Isaacs of Lake Forest.
“He was going to another house down the street three blocks away from us. He had put his daughter to bed, kissed her goodnight and said ‘Jesus loves you and so do I.’ And the next thing we know, we get a call from the hospital that he’s dead,” said Ute Ford, the victim’s mother.
A spokesperson for the OC Sheriff’s department says that Issacs appeared to be riding on the sidewalk, and rode into the crosswalk where he was hit by the van.
KTLA-5 offers a good video report on the case, which leaves three children without their father just a week before Christmas.
My heart and prayers go out to the Isaacs’ family and loved ones.
Lovely thing for the kids at the Elementary School across the street to see first thing in the morning.
On Google maps, you can see the light industrial complex just a few blocks north. If I was a private detective, I’d be looking there for the van.
white van is pretty vague though, mini-van? delivery van? that area is pretty quiet so the coward did have a good opportunity to flee the scene…merry friggin Christmas to that coward. You will get caught…time is against that person
RIP my friend. I wish peace for your family. Any word on the rider’s name?
I was somewhat surprised that the news team actually thought this was news worthy. Usually their busy with what Lindsay Lohan is up to today. They slip up every once in awhile.
No word yet. I’ve been checking the news every few hours to see if they’ve made an announcement yet; sometimes it takes days, especially if the victim’s family lives outside the country.
I’ve been surprised about the coverage as well, especially in light of the lack of coverage given Carol Schreder’s death. On the other hand, I’ve yet to see a story that goes much beyond the press release issued by the OC Sheriff’s Dept.
KABC-7 has identified the victim as 47-year old Randy Issacs, but does not say where he was from. According to the report, he was riding just three blocks to another house after putting his daughter to bed; I’ve updated the story above.
Sounds like he was at the crosswalk and riding the sidewalk.