Once again, a man has lost life, simply for riding a bicycle.
And once again, a coward has fled the scene instead of stopping to take responsibility, this time in Sun Valley.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the victim was struck by the driver of a red Dodge sedan while riding his bike at 8558 North San Fernando Road in Sun Valley around 8:35 pm Thursday.
The driver kept going without slowing down. Witnesses attempted to follow, but were unable to catch him or capture his license plate.
No word on how or why the hit-and-run crash occurred.
A street view shows a narrow two lane street squeezed between railroad tracks and an industrial district.
Anyone with information on the hit-and-run is urged to call the LAPD at 877/527-3247. And as always, there is a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver in any fatal hit-and-run crash.
This is at least the 19th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fourth in the City of Los Angeles.
Update: The LAPD is now saying the victim was a pedestrian who was walking across the street outside of a crosswalk. Still no ID on the victim, and no explanation for why witnesses said he was riding a bicycle.
Update 2: Family members have identified the victim as Samuel Hernandez; sadly, he won’t be there to witness his daughter’s graduation from Cal State Northridge next month.
They also clarified that he was walking his bike across the street when he was killed.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Samuel Hernandez and his loved ones.
Samuel Hernandez’ daughter at the ghost bike installation with Zachary Rynew; top photo: people attending ghost bike installation with finished ghost bike
The pain returns everytime I hear of another biking death. I hope the bicyclist was taken to the hospital for his family’s sake. I am so grateful to the police and paramedics that responded to my father’s accident. Even though he did not survive, it was so much better than identifying him from a morgue. May his family find comfort in the community around them. May we rise up to make our communities safer.
We lift up the family and friends of the victim in prayer.