A man riding a bicycle was killed in Baldwin Park Friday morning.
Something we might not know about if it wasn’t for a single report from a local news source.
Which is one more than we usually get these days, unfortunately.
According to Baldwin Park News, the victim, identified only as a man in his 50s, was struck by a driver at Live Oak and Stewart avenues in Baldwin Park around 4:56 pm.
Despite the efforts of police and paramedics, he died at the scene.
The driver stayed at the scene, and police don’t suspect they were under the influence. Which isn’t surprising given the hour and industrial area surrounding the crash site.
There’s no word yet on how the crash occurred, or whether the victim had lights on his bike more than an hour before sunrise.
This was at least the 14th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and just the third that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
Which either means this is the county’s best year on record, or there are a lot of crashes we’re just not hearing about.
I’d put my money on the latter.
Update: Baldwin Park News — which is still the only source to report on the crash — reports the victim has been identified as 55-year-old David Conteras, after notification of next of kin.
The paper also reports the driver left the scene, and police spotted the damaged pickup about a mile from the crash site.
There’s no explanation for why that wasn’t considered a hit-and-run.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for David Conteras and his loved ones.
Thanks to dangheck.bsky.social for the heads-up. And thanks to Baldwin Park News for reporting and staying on top of this story.
