There’s no word on how the crash occurred, or how long the woman, who hasn’t been publicly identified, may have been down on the Bellflower street she was discovered. Or if she could have survived if the driver had stopped and called for help, as the law requires.
Investigators are looking for the driver of a white pickup, believed to have fled north on Clark Street.
This is at least the 27th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 11th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
This was also the 6th person to die riding a bicycle in LA County in less than a month, and the tenth SoCal bike rider killed by a hit-and-run driver since the first of the year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and her loved ones.
The victim, who was just riding his bike home from work, was lucky to escape serious injury, despite being sent flying off his bike.
That was the driver’s second attempt at running him down. The first came when the driver swerved at him from behind and missed.
He was more successful in his second attempt, after apparently turning around and cutting across traffic lanes to target the victim from the other side of the road.
Fullerton police are looking for as a red two-door car, possibly a Dodge Challenger, and hoping to find security video showing the car’s license plate,
Anyone with information is urged to call the Fullerton Police Department at 714/738-6800.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. Yucatán Magazine says bike lanes in Mérida, capital of the Mexican state, are showing mixed results after three years, with some people using them while others still bike in the traffic lanes, while suggesting the mere presence of the lanes contribute to greater traffic congestion. No, too many cars are the cause of traffic congestion. And of course people still ride in traffic lanes if bike lanes don’t take them where they need to go.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
The Pasadena Planning Commission unanimously voted to turn North Lake Ave into a new Old Pasadena, with plans calling for wider sidewalks, landscaped medians, a comprehensive streetscape strategy, and new bicycle facilities. Which could mean anything from physically protected bike lanes to a few random bike racks.
Westlake Village became the latest city to join in on the rush to crack down on ebikes, banning all electric micromobility devices from virtually everywhere but city streets, while allowing sheriff’s deputies to ensure compliance, but “only during lawful stops.” Well, that’s comforting.
State
Fullerton’s 3rd Annual Christmas in July Bike Ride will roll through the city’s streets tomorrow, with Santa Claus trading in his sleigh for a mountain bike. Please pass along my wish for Santa that someone will find the road-raging SOB who ran down that Fullerton bike rider, and lock his ass up for a damn long time.
An op-ed in the Guardian says the bicycle is an important part of Ireland’s past, and Irish cyclist Ben Healy’s brief time in the Tour de France’s yellow jersey can inspire a revival of bike riding in the country.
Reuters says Australian Ben O’Connor “stormed to a sensational victory,” on yesterday’s stage 18 of the Tour de France, his “eyes blazing with determination,” as he “launched a ferocious solo attack on the fearsome Col de la Loze.” Well, okay then.
After becoming the first African man or woman to win a Monument, Kim Le Court reflected on her unusual entry to the sport, taking it up because her parents and brothers were bicyclists, after first trying tennis, golf, touch rugby and soccer.
“We need to be thinking about this from every angle, from the way we design vehicles, to what safety features are in vehicles, to employing technology like speed cameras across the state in a thoughtful way, to driver’s education,” she (Friedman) said.
Friedman also commended West Hollywood and other cities for implementing safer traffic measures, calling the increase in fatal collisions a “public health crisis.”
Because a public health crisis is exactly how we need to be looking at traffic violence. Just like we should consider gun violence, but don’t.
In both cases.
The paper also quotes Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, founder Damian Kevitt citing a “shocking” increase in traffic violence in the city of just 34,000 people.
Kevitt also cited the problem of drivers fleeing following a crash because the penalties for hit-and-run are more lenient than for DUI.
“That is a huge factor and that is where the law needs to catch up,” he said.
Kevitt added that reducing traffic congestion by adding surface area on streets has not been successful in Los Angeles and that using alternative means of transportation is a more effective way of reducing vehicle congestion.
However, we’re not likely to reduce congestion until people feel safer using other forms of transportation on those congested streets.
Because the hit-and-run alert programs for both Los Angeles and California were copied from Colorado’s successful program, which itself was based on the very successful program patterned after the Amber alert system that originated in Denver.
The only difference is they use it, and we don’t. Which just might have something to do with why Colorado solved every felony hit-and-run in 2022, while only around 20% ever get solved in California.
Or maybe they just care enough to devote the resources necessary to solve them, and the cops and elected leaders out here don’t.
A Hollywood judge will now determine whether a 62-year old Pasadena man will stand trial for killing his wife, dismembering her and stuffing her remains in a suitcase, then taking his bicycle on a train, riding his bike to North Figueroa and setting the suitcase on fire in a Home Depot parking lot, after his attorney questioned the man’s mental competency. Gee, ya think?
Burbank unveiled its draft Safer Street action plan, including plans for traffic calming measures on nine separate streets; you can weigh in at the August 12th city council meeting.
Just like West Hollywood last weekend, nearly 100 people in San Rafael gathered outside City Hall Monday evening to honor a “beloved husband, coach and cyclist” who was killed while riding his bike last month, and demand that the city fix the dangerous intersection where he was was run down by a driver.
A Canadian woman just set new Guinness World Records for the fastest speed on a Penny Farthing by a woman at 25.93 mph, and the fastest women’s one kilometer on a Penny Farthing. But bikes like that have only been around for 150 years, so no big deal.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was trying to cross Lankershim Blvd south of Arminta Street around 10:55 pm when he was struck by the driver of an older-model silver Dodge Ram pickup traveling south on Lankershim.
He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver continued driving south without stopping.
KTLA-5 reports that the victim was riding outside of the crosswalk, which is absolutely irrelevant since there is no requirement for bicyclists to use one. And just like drivers, they are entitled to move from one side of the street to the other, whether turning, crossing or making a U-turn.
So the question is whether the victim had the right-of-way, which could depend on where the driver came from and how fast they were going.
Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Valley Traffic Bureau Detective Otrosina at 818/644-8036, or Detective Martinez at 818/644-8033.
As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
This is at least the 26th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fifth we’ve learned about in the City of Los Angeles.
This was the fifth person to die riding a bicycle in LA County in less than a month, and the ninth SoCal bike rider killed by a hit-and-run driver since the first of the year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
Adams is accused of running Ackerman down from behind as on Fountain Ave near Gardner, and continuing west on Fountain without stopping.
Authorities said he was arrested after witnesses and tipsters helped identify his car. WeHo Timescredits Florida resident Shanna Meade with giving investigators a video of Adams’ car and license plate.
Despite the arrest, the case remains under investigation. Anyone with information is urged to call LA County Sheriff’s traffic investigators at the West Hollywood station at 310/855-8850.
Unless additional charges are filed, Adams faces a maximum of four years behind bars under California’s lenient hit-and-run laws.
Matt Parker, one of Ackerman’s closest friends, gave a moving statement, while his fiancé and friends wrote personal messages on the freshly painted white bike.
Ackerman had recently returned to Los Angeles to work as associate at DTLA law firm Morgan Lewis. He was likely returning home from a late day at work when he was killed, have just taken up bike commuting and transit use rather than driving.
The ghost bike ceremony was organized by the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition with assistance from Streets Are For Everyone.
A larger vigil will be held Friday starting at 6 pm at Fountain and Gardner, followed by a short march to West Hollywood City Hall for a rally and press conference.
Everyone is urged to attend to call for safer streets in WeHo, and throughout the area.
And yes, I mean everyone.
Today’s photos show the newly installed ghost bike for Blake Ackerman, along with the installation ceremony.
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CicLAvia unveiled the map for October’s Heart of LA CicLAvia, marking the 15th anniversary of America’s largest open streets event.
However, there are two events preceding it, in August and September.
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Good question.
Having seen the congestion, safety, and emergency access arguments deployed against bike lanes in literally hundreds of places, why have we not developed a little guidebook or something on how to deal with them?
As I recall, back in the dark ages when I served on the board, staffers at the former Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition — now BikeLA — developed a short guide on how to respond to common objections.
But it really would make sense for someone to pen a handbook with effective arguments against the most common complaints, which would undoubtedly become an instant best seller.
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Call it elder abuse.
Anyone who is still riding a bicycle at 85 deserves better than to be killed by an alleged drunk driver, like this man in Portland, Oregon.
The same goes for an 83-year of British Columbia woman killed by the driver of a semi truck, who played the international Get Out of Jail Free card by claiming he didn’t see her.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. London’s walking and cycling commissioner decries the “antagonism” between bicyclists and motorists on social media, saying it’s “not representative of real life.” But all the Evening Standard wants to talk about is his statement that some bike riders “are idiots” — even though he included motorists in that statement, too.
But sometimes, it’s the people on bikes behaving badly.
Chico breaks ground on a new bike track that will bring state-of-the-art amenities for riders. Presumably without damaging any ancient archaeological artifacts.
National
Walmart has issued a recall of 200 children’s bikes that pose a risk of illness or death due to excessive levels of lead; parents are urged to destroy the bikes sold under the SPPTTY brand.
Two men from Grand Rapids, Michigan are way ahead of schedule on their fundraising ride to Los Angeles to benefit Pedal to the Rescue, a nonprofit on a mission to support the heroes who fought LA’s wildfires, on track to finish the ride in half of the 82 days originally estimated.
Cycling Weekly tests four of the best road bikes for under $2,400, and says you can get a lot more for your money than you could ten years ago. Tell me about it. I spent about that much for a 2014 LeMond, which doesn’t hold a candle to today’s bikes. Although putting a candle on a bike doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Um, okay. Dame Joan Collins — yes, that Joan Collins — pens a confusing “diary” post that starts with complaints about the British prime minister, even though it’s about the invasion of Lime Bikes, or maybe an invasion of immigrants on Lime Bikes, before moving on in truly Trumpian fashion to talk about hard working movie people and telling Ingrid Bergman’s daughter to bugger off.
Um, okay, too. A new Chinese study examines “The nonlinear relationship between built environment and cycling propensity for different travel purposes − based on extreme gradient boosting decision tree.”
Competitive Cycling
Tragic news from Italy’s Giro della Valle d’Aosta, where 19-year old Italian cyclist Samuele Privitera died following a crash on Wednesday’s stage 1; Privitera was a member of the Jayco AlUla World Tour team, owned and managed by Alex Merckx, son of the legendary Eddy Merckx. Stage 2 was cancelled following Privitera’s death.
Day 197 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Let’s call this a trial balloon.
For years now, I’ve been calling for an end to hit-and-runs, in a region where nearly half of all collisions end with a fleeing driver, according to a report from LA Weekly that is no longer online.
Although to be fair, the LAPD has consistently said that roughly 33% percent of all collisions are hit-and-runs, based on COMPSTAT data, less than 10% of which ever get solved. In fact, most are never investigated if someone isn’t dead or seriously injured
But either way, it’s too damn high.
While the legislature has worked around the edges to address the problem, those efforts haven’t gone nearly far enough to put the slightest dent into the problem.
So I’m proposing a simplified version of the reforms I’ve been calling for, to see what you think, before I try starting a petition and taking it to legislators and advocacy groups.
You can leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Make the penalty for hit-and-run equal to the penalty for DUI, including fines, jail time and license suspensions, to remove one of the primary incentives to flee.
Anyone who leaves the scene of a KSI crash — Killed or Serious Injury — will automatically have their license revoked by the DMV, regardless of any criminal conviction or plea,
Anyone who leaves the scene of a KSI crash will have their car impounded as evidence once it’s found; upon conviction, the car will be sold and the proceeds donated to a victim’s fund, after any loans or liens are payed off.
Prosecutors should have the option of charging drivers with 2nd degree murder, or attempted murder, for making the conscious decision to flee and leave the victim to suffer the consequences.
That’s it.
It is, admittedly, a tough approach.
But it’s the only approach I’m aware of that will remove the incentive to flee, while making the penalty harsh enough to make drivers think twice. Or three times, even.
And let’s be honest. Anyone who flees a serious crash has already demonstrated that they can’t be trusted to be obey the law, and shouldn’t be allowed on the streets.
And I promise that’s the last time I’m going to use the phrase Mid-City here. Unless it isn’t.
As I recall, the project was originally proposed in those heady days before the pandemic, so it’s been in a works for quite awhile.
The neighborhood greenway will be one of the city’s few examples of a bicycle boulevard, or a series of bicycle priority streets, similar to Santa Monica’s successful Michigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway, aka MANGo.
It will run on on Rosewood Ave, Formosa Ave and Orange Drive to connect La Cienega and Hollywood boulevards, through a series of diverters, traffic circles and protected bike lanes to provide a low-stress, relatively carfree route through the Mid-City area.
Oops.
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Streets For All says we can do better than an unprotected bike lane on Alameda and Spring streets, and want you to tell LADOT so.
.@LADOTofficial is working to improve safety and mobility along Spring and Alameda St. The Mobility Plan 2035 calls for an unprotected bike lane and pedestrian improvements – but we can do better! Ask for protected bike lanes by taking their survey: https://t.co/xoDsE5qYt8pic.twitter.com/FghvI02qAP
More on the complaints from business owners on Black Mountain Road in San Diego’s Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood, who somehow don’t think their businesses can survive the loss of just 30 to 40 parking spaces. As if their customers won’t walk a few more feet to visit them, and a safer road for bike riders doesn’t offer the potential to bring them far more customers.
New Mexico’s Picuris Pueblo, one of 21 Native American nations that have survived for centuries in the region, is investing in its own community with the newest bike park in the US, which will open with a competition offering more than $8,000 in total prize money.
The organizers of British Columbia’s Okanagan Granfondo are under fire following a crash killed one man and injured two others when a driver slammed into a group of riders, and organizers allowed the fondo to continue as if nothing happened.
If cycling events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics remain on the current dates, it could conflict with the Tour de France, forcing the ’28 Tour to start weeks earlier and throwing off the year’s entire cycling calendar.
A ghost bike will be installed tomorrow at 9 am in a small ceremony at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street. The public is welcome to attend.
A larger vigil will be held on Friday, July 18th, starting at 6 pm at Fountain and Gardner, followed by a short march to West Hollywood City Hall for a rally and press conference. Everyone is urged to attend and participate.
And I do mean everyone.
And yes, that includes me this time.
Meanwhile, a crowdfunding page to raise funds to support Blake’s mother and sister has raised nearly $160,000 of the newly increased $200,000 goal.
There’s still no word on the identity of the heartless coward in a white, older-model BMW sedan who left Blake Ackerman in the street.
It’s also worth taking some time to look over WeHo’s two-year old Vision Zero Plan. Because Fountain isn’t the only street that needs to be fixed before it’s too late.
Again.
Photo of Blake Ackerman in better days from GoFundMe page.
Vermont was rated the best state for bike commuters, followed by Oregon, Minnesota, Alaska and West Virginia.
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They get it.
Streets For All says Los Angeles is caught in a money-draining spiral of spending millions to pay for deaths and injuries caused by our dangerous streets, rather than spending to fix the streets and avoid the damn injuries in the first place.
As a prime example, they call out Playa Vista’s Deadly del Mar, aka Vista del Mar, where 20 people have been killed in the past 20 years.
That includes five deaths since 2017, when the city briefly installed safety improvements following a nearly $10 million settlement for the death of a 16-year old girl, which were promptly ripped out at the order of former “World Climate” Mayor Eric Garcetti to appease entitled commuters from Manhattan Beach.
An anonymous source forwards a Reddit post highlighting a problem too many people fail to consider, myself included, as a Deaf Scottish woman posts a plea for a little more consideration from bike riders on shared trails.
I have always relied on a shouted “passing on your left” to warn others of my approach. But neither that nor a bike bell will do any good if the other person can’t hear you.
She then followed up on the over 100 replies her post received with this.
“Thanks all for the comments and insights, really helpful!” she said. “Not intending to diss cyclists or anything; I know people have opinions of them.
“My post genuinely was just asking for a bit of respect/shared responsibility although some people don’t seem to get that my being deaf, they seem to think it’s somehow my fault for nearly getting spooked by someone coming behind me.”
As the person who emailed me points out,
It is an important issue to raise because hearing people don’t often think about the fact that sometimes yelling or a horn is not going to be effective. Deaf people are more likely to respond to lights, but even that might not work if you’re coming up behind someone on a path in the open so slow down and avoid close passes of people moving more slowly than you are.
They also lower cased “Deaf” when the OP clearly identifies as upper case “Deaf” (which is not just a medical condition, but a culture and thus capitalized when someone identifies as part of that culture).
It’s very easy to go through life — and yes, riding a bicycle — seeing it only from the lens of someone who is hearing and sighted. But it’s important that we also consider the needs, safety and dignity of those who aren’t.
In our last episode, we talked to bike activists in two cities who made their own bike lanes with opposite results. soundcloud.com/biketalk/252… @pattybikes.com @cascadebicycleclub.bsky.social @merlinrain.bsky.social @seattlebikeblog.com #bikesky
Streetsblog calls attention to a series of Metro meetings continuing this week and next to discuss the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project, and the Sepulveda Transit rail project to connect the Valley with West Los Angeles, where rich Bel Air residents are demanding an inefficient monorail so no one will have to dig a subway tunnel under their very expensive homes.
Santa Monica hosts yet another in a continuing series of bicycle and pedestrian safety operations in SoCal cities, this time on Friday, July 18, 2025 from 5 am to 8 pm. Even though they say it’s targeted at dangerous driver behaviors, police are legally required to enforce the law equally against all violators, regardless of mode of travel. So ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.
San Francisco wants to expand the Embarcadero protected bike lane, which would require removing up to 30 parking spaces and 15 palms trees. Which is okay because palms are just giant grasses that suck up water and don’t shade anything.
She gets it. A San Francisco letter writer says “If you oppose bike lanes, pedestrian improvements or expanding public transit, you’re voting for more congestion.”
Seriously? A study from a Florida law firm shows that Bay County is the state’s most dangerous county for bicyclists — but instead of demanding safer streets or better drivers, a Florida political site says “wear a helmet.”
Local cyclist and advocate Nicholas Renteria organized a grassroots demonstration at the intersection of Fountain Avenue and Gardner Street, where the deadly collision occurred on Thursday, July 10, around 9:47 p.m. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the victim, Blake Ackerman, 26, was riding westbound on Fountain when he was hit by an older-model BMW sedan, which fled the scene. The victim was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.
Anger has built following Ackerman’s death because individuals and advocacy groups have demanded action on the deadly corridor for more than a decade.
Plans have finally begun moving forward over the past few years, but are hung up by the usual demands to persevere parking at the expense of human lives.
As calls for accountability grow louder, local leaders have pointed to upcoming initiatives like the Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project, which aims to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety with measures such as protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks. A community meeting about the project is scheduled for August 19 at Plummer Park.
Renteria hopes awareness leads to action before another life is lost. “This isn’t a fight between drivers and cyclists,” he said. “It’s a fight between people and a government that’s not being responsive.”
In addition to the community meeting next month, plans are underway for a ghost bike to be installed in the coming days.
You’ll know more when I do.
Photo: Streets For All and Measure HLA stickers on a bicycle parked at Lowes Home Improvement in Mid-City LA Sunday afternoon.
Streets For All offered their July newsletter, including news that a total of $7 million has been approved to move forward with necessary technical and environmental clearance work on the proposed extension of the Ballona Creek bike path.
State
Police in Huntington Beach busted a bike thief who stole a bait bike valued at over $2,000, enough to qualify for felony charges. Yet the LAPD still won’t use bait bikes, following outdated advice from the City Attorney’s office that it could be considered entrapment
A hit-and-run driver left an Oregon woman lying in a ditch all night after they crashed into her bike sometime Saturday night; she was found by a passerby after 7 Sunday morning suffering from serious leg, facial, and other injuries. The driver should be charged with attempted murder when they find them for making the conscious decision to risk the victim’s life by leaving her there to die.
Police in an Ontario city put bicyclists on a stationary bicycle so they could get a feel for what it’s like to be passed by a driver at the legally mandated one-meter distance (approximately three feet); most felt shaken after the experience, with several wanting the mandatory passing distance increased to two meters. Although it would have done a lot more good to put motorists on that stationary bike, so they would understand just how it feels.
This time it’s personal. And yes, I’m mad as hell.
Once again, someone riding a bicycle has been murdered by a hit-and-run driver, this time in West Hollywood.
And this time, at an intersection I’ve passed through literally thousands of times, on foot, on bike and in a car.
It was about 10 pm last night when a notification on the Ring app said someone had been struck by a driver at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street; video from the scene showed sheriff’s deputies had blocked the entire street in both directions, which is never a good sign.
That was confirmed today, when we learned the victim didn’t make it.
The victim was taken to the trauma center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he died of his injuries. He has not been publicly identified.
Investigators are looking for a white, older-model BMW sedan, which will likely have a shattered windshield on the passenger side. There is no description of the driver at this time.
And if that’s not a problem, I don’t know what is.
Fountain is also a designated bike route, where bike riders are encouraged to ride by the presence of sharrows, regardless of experience. And despite drivers who frequently exceed the posted 25 mph speed limit, sometimes by two or three times.
Plans have been in the works for at least two years now to fix Fountain, but have been held up by the usual endless series of public meetings and redesigns, as if residents concerned about parking somehow know more about designing safe streets than the people trained to do it.
Anyone with information related to the collision is urged to contact traffic investigators at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station at 310/855-8850. Anonymous tips can be called into Crimestoppers at 800/222-TIPS (8477), or by texting 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads).
This is at least the 24th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
This was also at least the eighth SoCal bike rider killed by hit-and-run drivers since the first of the year.
But at least the Sheriff’s Department told us about it right away, unlike the LAPD.
Anyone who knew Blake was lucky to call him a friend. Many of his friends became an extension of his family. Blake and his family welcomed everyone with open arms, into their home, their gatherings, and their family dinners. No matter who you were, you were always welcome.
Blake was full of limitless potential. He lived well and accomplished so much in his all-too-short years. He was a born leader, he served as student-body president and vice president at Beverly Hills High School, undergraduate vice president at USC, senior articles editor for the Loyola Law Review, and president of Loyola’s Surf & Ski Club. He also co-founded a human-rights advocacy group dedicated to prison-to-school education.
Prior to graduating law school, Blake externed for Judge Autumn D. Spaeth of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. In 2023, he earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School, then clerked for Judge Clyde J. Wadsworth of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals in Oahu, where he met his soulmate, Torie. Together they moved back to his hometown of Los Angeles, and Blake joined Morgan Lewis as a litigation associate. Even in his busy professional life, Blake’s caring heart extended to pro bono work, he arranged one final matter to help someone in need, and his firm has honored to carry it forward in his memory.
As of this writing, the page has raised over $126,000 of a $150,000 goal.
He was taken to a hospital suffering from serious injuries, but died shortly later. He has not been publicly identified.
Police are looking for the driver of a gray four-door sedan, possibly a Nissan Altima or similar make and model.
There’s no word on the how the crash occurred, or any description of the driver at this time. However, there are sharrows in both direction on Monterey, which may have contributed to the crash.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Pomona Police Department at 909/620-2156.
This is at least the 23rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County. This was also at least the seventh SoCal bike rider killed by hit-and-run drivers since the first of the year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
