The victim was riding south in the crosswalk on Sepulveda Blvd at Roscoe Blvd when he was struck by a driver headed east on Roscoe.
He died at the scene before paramedics could arrive.
The driver continued without stopping, leaving his victim to die in the street.
There’s no word on who had the right-of-way on the signalized intersection or how fast the driver was going. Or whether the victim had the required lights and reflectors on his bike in the early morning darkness.
Police are looking for a dark-colored 2007-2011 Toyota Camry; there’s no description given for the heartless coward behind the wheel.
Anyone with information is urged to call 818/644-8022. 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 13th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County, as well as the second in the City of LA.
Shamefully, seven of those 13 deaths have been hit-and-runs — as have both of the bicycling deaths in Los Angeles.
And if that makes you mad, it should.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
He was rushed to a local hospital, where he died just 35 minutes later.
No word on whether the crash was reported right away, or how long he may have been lying there before he was discovered. Or if any delay in receiving treatment may have contributed to his death.
However, no one ordered a similar review when a 32-year old homeless man, identified as Jonathan Valbuena, was killed in a hit-and-run a few miles north on the same deadly corridor.
America’s first congestion pricing plan could get the go ahead now that the former Mayor Pete is heading the Department of Transportation, clearing the way for New York’s proposed program. Which could bode well for Los Angeles — if local leaders have the courage to move forward with Metro’s congestion pricing proposal.
Duran died at the scene. There’s no word on just how long he had to lay there, alone and bleeding, before someone saw him.
Police arrested 28-year old Mark Bravo of Indio on Wednesday; he’s being held on $75,000 bond on a single count of felony hit-and-run.
If there was any justice, he’d face a second degree murder charge for allegedly leaving his victim there to die; there’s no way of knowing if Duran could have survived if he’d gotten help sooner.
This is at least the ninth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Anthony Duran and his loved ones.
Almost a year ago, just before the world went to hell, the LA Times did a story about the foster corgi we took in to help a homeless man get back on his feet.
This weekend they did a followup story, with an update how man and dog are doing and the ripple effect it had on everyone, my wife and I included.
Along with the corgi puppy we adopted last summer.
Eleven-year old Mark Iskander and his eight-year old brother Jacob were crossing the street with their parents in a marked and well-lighted crosswalk when they were run down, one on his bicycle and the other on a scooter.
It easily could have been worse. Their parents were able to jump back with the boys’ younger siblings at the last second, barely sparing the family from being wiped out entirely.
And yet the 51-year old Erickson, who had a one-year stint with the Dodgers, faces a single lousy count of misdemeanor reckless driving.
Did I mention that both drivers are in their 50s, and should have effing known better?
Maybe prosecutors can explain their charging decision in this one, because it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense to me.
………
The good news is bicycling deaths may — repeat, may — have dropped last year, from an obscene 857 in 2018, and 846 in 2019, to 697 last year.
Or rather, all the deaths they’re aware of; there are undoubtedly more that never crossed their radar, for whatever reason.
Of those, slightly more than 80% were men, and over a quarter of the victims were killed in hit-and-runs.
No surprise on either count. Especially not the latter, which tracks very closely with what we’ve seen here in Southern California.
And sadly, no surprise that far too many of those deaths occurred here in California.
Louisiana, New York, California, Florida, and Texas were the five deadliest states for cyclists in terms of total fatalities. The latter three have been the most deadly states for cyclists for years, and New York’s fatalities have been on the rise as well—in 2019, it reported 46 cyclist deaths, with 29 in New York City alone. While these three states are also the most populous in the country, Florida and California have among the most cycling deaths per million people, as well. And Louisiana recorded 7.3 cycling deaths per million people, the most of any state. Louisiana’s total fatal crash numbers have remained in the twenties and thirties for the past five years, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
No surprise that those deaths may have been driven in part by last year’s bike boom, either.
Though it’s too early to be certain, the cycling boom that took place after the COVID-19 lockdown orders may have contributed to the summer death rate. From January through November, $4.9 billion worth of bikes were sold in the U.S., according to the NPD Group. In Los Angelesand Houston alone, Strava found approximately a 100 percent increase in cycling trips in both cities in May 2020 compared to May 2019. More cyclists on the road seemed to correlate with more people on bikes being killed by drivers.
BIKE RECOVERY: "The person I got it back from had purchased it on Offer Up. When he tried to register it, it came up stolen, so he called me since he saw it on Bike Index." @bikinginla@iamspecializedpic.twitter.com/cDcr7dN8eE
You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in the UK, where a road raging driver was fined the equivalent of a lousy $549 for a fist-shaking punishment pass that caused a 68-year old man to fall off his bike, suffering life-changing injuries. But hey, at least he won’t be able to drive for a whole six months.
But sometimes, it’s the person on two wheels behaving badly.
Carlsbad police busted a suspected drunken hit-and-run driver who ran down a bike-riding woman from Arizona; at last report, the 65-year old woman was unconscious with serious injuries.
He gets it. A Salt Lake City columnist says bike riders have a right to be safe in traffic. And that’s why he supports a bill that would legalize the Idaho Stop in Utah, even if people on bicycles will still have to be alert, because too many drivers aren’t.
No bias here. Florida cops fall over themselves to absolve a killer hit-and-run driver of responsibility, saying he knew he hit something, but didn’t know it was a person on a bicycle. Because apparently, it’s just too much to expect someone to get out of his car to see what the hell he hit hard enough to cause front end damage.
More on the British man who responded to the death of his brother and a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer by riding from the UK to Beijing on a tandem, sharing the other seat with people he met along the way.
I want to be like him when I grow up. After getting tired of people laughing at him, an 83-year old Pakistani man rode his bike over 1,100 miles to prove age is just a number; he’s been riding since buying his first bicycle 66 years ago.
An enterprising 15-year old Indian boy is too young to legally ride a Vespa-style scooter, so he turned his bicycle into one.
Fortune favored the Dutch in this year’s cyclocross worlds, as 31-year old Lucinda Brand and 26-year old Mathieu Van der Poel took the women’s and men’s elite titles. Riders from the Netherlands took four of the top five places in the women’s race, and two of the top five on the men’s side; the only American to finish in the top five in either race was Clara Honsinger, who placed 4th in the women’s race.
It’s a blustery day in LA, and much of Southern California.
With makes it a great day to get that KOM, as long as you can keep the wind at your back. Otherwise, it could feel like riding with an anchor.
And as someone who used to deal with Colorado’s notorious Chinook winds, bear in mind that an ill-timed gust can literally blow you off your bike, or all the way across the roadway.
Or both.
So maybe you’re better off just staying home with a good book.
I tried fighting that same battle on San Vicente nearly a decade ago.
It wasn’t hard to get FedEx and UPS to agree that parking in a bike lane violated their internal policies, and pinky swear promise they wouldn’t do it anymore.
And while the Santa Monica police couldn’t grasp the concept that a bike lane is a legal lane of traffic reserved for bicycle, or that blocking one is a clear violation of state law, the chief agreed that double parking is illegal, at least.
But that was several SaMo PD chiefs ago. And nothing ever changed.
Delivery drivers kept parking there. Cops kept ignoring it.
And bike riders continued risking their lives mixing with impatient drivers who couldn’t comprehend that blocked bike lanes mean bike riders have to merge into the traffic lane.
Clearly, adding Amazon delivery vans to the mix hasn’t helped, either.
The only solution is to make it a protected bike lane, which it should be anyway.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes keeps going on.
Driver leans HARD on the car horn, then just drives straight into the back of the rider. Can't claim he didn't see him when he's honking at him first. Assault? GBH? Attempted Murder? Whatever you call it, it's intentional and worthy of punishment.https://t.co/CNlcmYaTHXpic.twitter.com/ut7DueZ5Wm
Good news from behind the Orange Curtain, as Caltrans agrees to remove the ill-conceived rumble strips on PCH through Bolsa Chica that posed a needless risk along the popular riding route. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.
For the third time in just three days, a bike rider was killed in Southern California.
And for the third time, a driver left the scene — although police were quick to excuse it.
According to the Press-Enterprise, 43-year old Lake Elsinore resident Alex Herrera was crossing Highway 74 just west of Briggs Road in Menifee around 10:45 Saturday night, when he was struck by a westbound driver, flung onto the other side of the roadway, and run over by another driver headed east.
Herrera died at the scene before police could arrive.
The second driver kept going without stopping, but lost his license plate in the crash. Police were able to track him down and were quick to absolve him of responsibility, suggesting he may not have known he hit anyone.
Because evidently, it’s perfectly normal to keep driving after feeling a large, unexpected bump without stopping to see what the hell it was.
Like maybe another person, for instance.
Police said there was no sign drug or alcohol intoxication played a role in the crash, and neither driver was ticketed or arrested at the scene.
There’s no word on why Herrera was crossing the highway west of the intersection with Briggs, with no street lights or businesses to light the roadway.
There’s also no indication if he had lights on his bike that would have made him visible in the darkness.
This is at least the sixth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
Drivers have left the scene in all but two of those deaths, including all three in Riverside County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Alex Herrera and his loved ones.
A 46-year old bike rider is dead, the innocent victim of a speeding carjacker trying to make his escape through Downtown Los Angeles Saturday morning.
Now police are looking for the car thief and killer, who simply walked away after a second crash.
According to KABC-7, the series of events started when a passing pedestrian asked a newspaper delivery driver for a ride on the 900 block of Wilshire Blvd. When the driver refused, the man jumped into the running pickup while the man was stocking a newsstand.
Unable to get back into the truck, the delivery driver jumped into the back as the man sped off towards DTLA, then wisely jumped out a few blocks later, tumbling to the ground.
Witnesses saw the carjacker careening through the streets, weaving from side to side at a high rate of speed while driving on the wrong side of the roadway.
After turning onto eastbound 7th Street, he slammed into a man who was riding east just before 7th and Olive Street.
However, according to the police flier, the victim riding against traffic in the westbound bike lane — which means the driver rear-ended him while all the way on wrong side of the street.
The victim landed on the hood of the truck, and was carried nearly 100 feet before being thrown off, then tumbled another 150 feet before coming to a rest at Hill Street, a full block from where he was hit.
Paramedics attempted without luck to revive him, before declaring Finley dead at the scene.
Meanwhile, the driver continued east on 7th until he crashed into a pair of vehicles and took off on foot, melting away on the Downtown streets.
Bizarrely, he was walking barefoot and carrying a steering wheel, presumably from the truck he stole.
He was described as a Black man around 5 foot 6 inches tall and 150 to 160 pounds, and may have suffered a head injury from hitting his head on the windshield.
The suspect was last seen wearing a white hoodie and black pants, after removing the blue hoodie he was originally wearing.
As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
Anyone with information is urged to contact LAPD Detective Juan Campos at 213/833-3713, or e-mail hm at 31480@lapd.online. During weekends and off-hours, call 1-877/527-3247.
This is at least the fifth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County and the City of LA.
Three of those deaths have been the result of hit-and-runs.
“I still don’t even think it’s real. I feel like it’s a dream. Right now, it’s a nightmare, and I feel tomorrow I’m going to wake up and this day will never exist,” his daughter, Koi Finley, told ABC7.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Branden Finley and his loved ones.
Just over two weeks into the new year, a second bike rider has been killed in Riverside County, both the victims of hit-and-run drivers.
But at least this time, the killer was caught a few hours later.
According to My News LA, the victim was riding through the intersection of Goetz Road and Mapes Road in Perris around 8:30 pm Thursday when he was struck by a car driven by 28-year old Perris resident Nathan Craig Rogers.
The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, died at the scene.
At last report, he was being held on $75,000 bond on suspicion of felony fatal hit-and-run and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence.
It’s unknown if drugs or alcohol played a role in the collision.
Sadly, California’s lenient hit-and-run laws mean Rogers is looking at just four years behind bars, with another year in county jail for the misdemeanor manslaughter charge.
And that’s only if the judge rules the sentences should run consecutively, rather than concurrently.
Anyone with information is urged to call Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Kiebach at 951/776-1099, or the Perris Station at 951-210-1000.
This is at least the 4th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 2nd that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
Half of those SoCal bicycling deaths have ben the result of hit-and-run drivers, both in Riverside County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
The crash happened on Monday, January 4th, at the intersection of Adams Boulevard and Nevin Avenue in the Central-Alameda neighborhood.
The driver had just turned the corner when he struck the man as he knelt near the curb. He briefly stopped, then continued on without getting out of his truck.
The crash was caught on a security cam across the street.
But be warned before you click on it, because it clearly shows the innocent victim getting hit by the driver’s truck. And there’s no way to unsee it once you do.
The biggest and most important thing an ally can do is shut up, listen, and amplify the voices of Black and brown folks, who are often silenced.
That’s an important message.
Because too often I’ve heard well-meaning white people explain to people of color what they need, instead of asking them first.
And sometimes, I’ve been one of them.
We’ve come a long way from the days when a friend told me you’d never see him or any other Black person on a bicycle, because everyone would just assume they couldn’t afford a car.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes keeps going on.
No bias here. A Singapore news site somehow concludes a bike rider was in the wrong for getting right hooked after stopping a few feet beyond the stop line, as if the truck driver that nearly hit him had no obligation to see or go around him. I would have flipped him off, too, under the same circumstances.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A bike-riding Chicago-area man was busted for allegedly committing 15 car burglaries while wearing ten different shirts and five pairs of pants; whenever he was caught on security cam he’d take off a layer to make himself less recognizable. Didn’t work, though.
