CHP looking for hit-and-run driver who killed man walking on 405 Freeway in Irvine

The California Highway Patrol is seeking the public’s help in identifying a driver who struck and killed a 33-year-old man walking in northbound lanes of the 405 Freeway Tuesday near John Wayne Airport.

Officer K. Yoon, a spokesman with the CHP’s Santa Ana station, said the station received a report shortly after 7:30 p.m. regarding an individual who’d walked from the MacArthur Boulevard ramp onto the freeway’s southbound lanes in Irvine.

“The [man] crossed the southbound lanes. Then, he climbed over the concrete divider wall and proceeded to enter the northbound lanes of the 405,” Yoon said Wednesday. “Upon entering the HOV lane, he was struck by an unknown vehicle.”

The unidentified driver fled the scene after striking the pedestrian.

Yoon said a paramedic responding to the incident pronounced the man dead at the scene. The Orange County coroner’s office on Wednesday identified the individual as 33-year-old Matthew Solorzano, according to sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Mike Woodroof.

Coroner’s officials on Wednesday had not yet identified Solorzano’s city of residence or last known address, Woodroof said, indicating the individual’s family members lived out of state.

CHP officers on Tuesday shut down the HOV lane and the No. 1 and 2 lanes of I-405 North, between MacArthur Boulevard and the 55 Freeway, for up to four hours to accommodate the investigation.

Officials are asking anyone who may have witnessed the hit-and-run collision or the events leading up to it to call CHP’s Santa Ana station at (714) 567-6000.

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