Pedestrian Struck and Killed in Watts on Imperial Highway

LOS ANGELES, CA — Police were searching for at least two drivers after a pedestrian was struck by several vehicles and killed Sunday night on Imperial Highway in Watts. 

The collision was reported at 10:03 p.m. in the 1400 block of East Imperial Highway, south of the Nickerson Gardens community. MyNewsLA listed the address as 1401 E. Imperial Highway, while CBS described the location as the area of Imperial Highway and Central Avenue. Los Angeles police said the man was crossing the street when the first vehicle hit him. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. 

A detailed preliminary account said the pedestrian walked from the south curb toward the north side of Imperial Highway. An eastbound, light-colored SUV struck him and continued without stopping. A westbound vehicle then hit the man while he was down in the roadway, and that driver remained to speak with officers. 

Later account listed three vehicles in Watts Crash

Information released later Monday described three vehicles rather than two. An LAPD spokesman told CBS Los Angeles that the drivers of the first two vehicles left the scene. The third driver stopped and cooperated with the investigation. Under that version, police were looking for two drivers rather than the single SUV driver identified in the preliminary account. 

The two accounts appeared to reflect an update as police gathered information after the nighttime response. Officials had not publicly reconciled the number of vehicles in a written release by Monday afternoon. The later account placed the focus on two unidentified drivers who did not remain at the scene. 

Police did not release descriptions of those drivers or their vehicles. The earlier account described the first vehicle only as a light-colored SUV. CBS reported that no additional suspect-vehicle information was immediately available. 

Victim had not been publicly identified 

Authorities believed the pedestrian was homeless, but his name and age were not released. The Los Angeles County medical examiner had not publicly identified him in the reports available Monday. Officers placed a canopy over the man’s body while they worked at the scene. Police did not say whether he was in a marked crosswalk when the sequence began. 

The driver who stayed at the scene continued to cooperate with investigators. Detectives from the LAPD’s South Traffic Division handled the case and asked anyone with information to call 213-479-6416. The investigation remained focused on identifying the vehicles and drivers who left Imperial Highway before officers arrived.