BikinginLA

Yet another innocent life has been taken by a heartless killer driver.

According to KTLA-5, someone ran down the man as he was riding with his girlfriend in Exposition Park Saturday night.

Then fled the scene without stopping. Or apparently giving a damn.

The couple were riding on Jefferson Boulevard at Denker Avenue in Expo Park around 10:30 pm when the victim was struck by a speeding driver headed west on Jefferson.

The man, who has not been publicly identified, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died a short time later.

His girlfriend was uninjured, though the trauma of watching someone she cared about get killed right in front of her last a lifetime.

No description is available for the driver, while the car was described only as a dark-colored sedan.

A street view shows a four lane street with left turn bays, and no bike lanes or any other form of infrastructure or protection for people on bicycles.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD South Traffic Division Detective Flannery or Officer Pollard at 323/421-2500. As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.

Hopefully that will be enough to bring this coward to justice.

This is at least the 40th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 16th I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the eighth in the City of Los Angeles.

Update: A friend of the victim, who remains unidentified publicly, tells me was almost home when he was killed.

Update 2: The victim has been identified in Spanish language media as 24-year old Cristian Méndez Ramos. (Correction: I originally spelled his name as Christian, rather than Cristian; Univision spelled it both ways. Thanks to Angie Sims for the correction.)

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Cristian Méndez Ramos and his family and loved ones.