South L.A. hit-and-run vigil interrupted by another hit and run

A vigil for the victim of a fatal hit-and-run crash in South L.A. Wednesday afternoon was broken up in dramatic fashion by yet another hit and run that was captured on video.

As pedestrians and bicyclists gathered at Manchester and Normandie avenues to mourn a bicyclist who was fatally struck by a car just a day and a half earlier, a gold-colored sedan barreled through the intersection and hit a man crossing the street, sending his body flying through the air, video from KTLA-TV Channel 5 showed.

The vehicle had run a red light and did not stop after hitting the pedestrian. The collision occurred about 1 p.m.

Police said no one had been taken into custody in connection with the crash and the injured pedestrian was taken to the hospital.

The fact that a KTLA news camera was at the intersection was not coincidental. Mourners had gathered at the location after a bicyclist was hit by an SUV there in the previous hit and run, said Officer Luis Garcia.

The vehicle in that incident was described as a white Porsche Cayenne. The driver has not been taken into custody, Garcia said. The investigation into both crashes is ongoing.

A program aimed at eliminating traffic-related deaths in Los Angeles, called “Vision Zero,” has been slow to bring change to the city, data show.

During the second full year of the Vision Zero initiative, aimed at eliminating traffic deaths on city streets by 2025, the number of pedestrians killed rose 17% over the previous year and was up 82% since 2015.

Overall, Los Angeles lowered traffic deaths by 3% last year. Officials had initially said the reduction was 6%, but the figure changed after state officials revised the number of deaths in 2016 to 254 from 260.

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s 2015 executive order that created Vision Zero called for a 20% reduction in deaths by 2017. The 3% reduction last year falls far short of that.

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Staff writer Laura J. Nelson contributed to this report.