Hyde Park Crash Leaves 2 Dead (Tito Castillo), 1 Injured

HYDE PARK, CA – Two men, who were identified as Tito Castillo and Sergio Hill, were killed and a young girl was critically injured Friday morning when a speeding BMW struck a Toyota Camry as it turned left on Crenshaw Boulevard in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles, according to police and fire officials.

Two men were killed and a young girl was critically injured Friday morning when a speeding BMW struck a Toyota Camry as it turned left on Crenshaw Boulevard in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles, according to police and fire officials.

The crash happened around 10:45 a.m. Friday, July 10, as the Camry attempted to turn left from Crenshaw Boulevard onto West 78th Street, near 77th Street and Inglewood Park Cemetery.

Police said a black BMW traveling northbound on Crenshaw struck the Camry at high speed as it turned. A witness estimated the BMW was going 100 mph or faster. A third, parked vehicle was also damaged in the collision.

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Tito Castillo and Sergio Hill’s Tragic Accident

The Camry’s driver and a passenger, both men, were pronounced dead at the scene. A young girl riding in the Camry’s back seat was pulled from the wreckage by bystanders and taken to a hospital in critical condition. Four people in total were injured, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department, including the girl and the BMW’s driver, who suffered only minor injuries.

Police had not officially released the names of the two men who died as of Monday. Family members identified one of them as Tito Castillo, described as a father who was on his way to the airport to meet his newborn baby for the first time; the second man who died was his friend, Sergio Hill. The group had stopped at a nearby store on their way to the airport, family members said.

Ken Smith, who owns a mini-mart near the crash site, said he watched surveillance video that appeared to show the BMW racing another vehicle, a Tesla, in the moments before the crash.

Investigators said drugs and alcohol do not appear to have been factors, though excessive speed is considered a likely cause. The LAPD’s investigation remains open, and no charges had been announced as of Monday.

Investigators said drugs and alcohol do not appear to have been factors, though excessive speed is considered a likely cause. The LAPD’s investigation remains open, and no charges had been announced as of Monday.

Dangers on Crenshaw Boulevard in Hyde Park

Friday’s crash occurred on a stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard that recorded 112 severe or fatal collisions between 2009 and 2019, according to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. The city has since designated a 5.7-mile stretch of Crenshaw between 79th Street and Pico Boulevard, which includes the area near 77th and 78th streets, for Vision Zero safety upgrades: new traffic signals, upgraded crosswalks, and protected left-turn signals.

City Vision Zero planning documents have separately flagged South Los Angeles as home to a disproportionate share of the city’s highest-risk corridors, a pattern attributed in part to wide, fast-moving arterial roads that carry heavy through-traffic past residential blocks.

California Liability Considerations

Under California law, drivers owe a general duty of reasonable care to others on the road, codified at Civil Code section 1714. That duty is reinforced by specific rules of the road: a driver turning left must yield the right-of-way to oncoming traffic that presents a hazard, per Vehicle Code section 21801, while all drivers must operate at a speed that is safe for conditions, per Vehicle Code section 22350. Under Evidence Code section 669, a driver who violates one of these statutes and causes an accident of the kind the statute was designed to prevent may be presumed negligent.

Whether this particular intersection had already received the corridor’s planned protected left-turn signal at the time of the crash is not established in current reporting. If it had not, the intersection’s design could become a secondary line of inquiry separate from the drivers’ conduct. A dangerous-condition claim against a public entity under Government Code section 835 carries a separate and much shorter deadline: a government claim must generally be filed within six months under Government Code section 911.2, well ahead of the standard civil filing window.

For the families of the two men killed, California’s wrongful death statute, Code of Civil Procedure sections 377.60 and 377.61, allows surviving spouses, children, and other qualifying heirs to recover damages including loss of financial support and loss of companionship. A separate survival action under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.30 may allow a decedent’s estate to recover for losses the decedent sustained before death. For the injured child and her family, a personal injury claim would proceed under the same general negligence framework. Any civil claim arising from this crash is subject to California’s two-year statute of limitations under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1, and claims against a government entity carry the separate six-month notice deadline noted above.