A man in his 60s using a walker was fatally struck by a driver who fled the scene Thursday night while he was crossing South Vermont Avenue at West 83rd Street in South Los Angeles. The crash happened around 9:20 p.m. in a marked crosswalk, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The driver did not stop, and no vehicle description was immediately available.
Paramedics and police were called to the scene, and the victim was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to NBC Los Angeles. His name has not been released pending family notification. Video from the scene showed officers investigating the crash alongside the crumpled remains of a wheelchair or wheeled walker left next to the curb.
LAPD South Traffic detectives are handling the investigation and can be reached at 323-421-2500 for anyone with information. Under the city's Hit-and-Run Reward Program Trust Fund, Los Angeles maintains a standing reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of a driver in a fatal hit-and-run, according to CBS News. Just days before Thursday's crash, that same outlet reported that LAPD South Traffic detectives had re-appealed to the public with the same $50,000 reward while trying to solve a fatal March hit-and-run that killed an e-scooter rider elsewhere in South Los Angeles.
A Driver's Legal Duty, and the Penalty for Fleeing
Under California Vehicle Code Section 21950, drivers are required to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in marked or unmarked crosswalks and to reduce speed as they approach, according to Shouse Law Group. The victim was legally protected in the crosswalk at the moment he was struck. Leaving the scene of a collision that causes injury or death is a wobbler offense under California Vehicle Code Section 20001, punishable as a felony carrying up to four years in state prison and fines between $1,000 and $10,000, per Justia Law.
South Vermont Avenue is not an unfamiliar stretch of road for this kind of tragedy. The corridor is designated by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation as part of the city's Vision Zero High Injury Network, a group of streets that makes up just 6% of city roadways but accounts for 65% of all severe and fatal crashes, according to the Killino Firm. A historical analysis by the Los Angeles Times identified a two-mile stretch of South Vermont Avenue as one of the deadliest corridors in L.A. County, recording 60 fatal incidents between 2007 and 2014.
A Pattern That Keeps Repeating on Vermont Avenue
Hoodline has reported on a deadly Westmont crash along this same avenue, and covered a string of other fatal hit-and-runs nearby this year, including a pre-dawn crash in East Hollywood, a case in Koreatown where police sought a white Dodge Charger, and the death of an 88-year-old pedestrian in a South L.A. crosswalk whose driver also fled and remains at large. Earlier this month, a pedestrian was also struck and killed near Vermont Avenue along the Santa Monica Freeway.
The broader numbers underscore why these cases keep piling up. In 2025, traffic collisions in Los Angeles killed 290 people, including more than 150 pedestrians, marking the third consecutive year that traffic deaths outpaced homicides in the city, according to LAist. Pedestrian fatalities citywide doubled over an eight-year span, rising from 88 deaths in 2015 to 176 in 2023, based on LAPD data analyzed by safety advocates and reported by the Los Angeles Times.
An official audit released in April 2025 found that the city's Vision Zero initiative, which has invested nearly $350 million since 2015 with a goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2025, was hampered by a lack of interdepartmental cohesion and political will, LAist reported. That goal was not met, and fatal crashes like Thursday's continue on the very corridors the program identified as most dangerous.
No arrests have been announced, and the driver's vehicle remains undescribed as detectives continue gathering evidence. Anyone with information is urged to contact LAPD South Traffic at 323-421-2500.
