A pedestrian was struck and killed crossing Roscoe Boulevard outside a crosswalk near Farralone Avenue and Quinn Circle in West Hills late Wednesday night, and the driver remained at the scene as investigators worked through the night into Thursday morning. The victim, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to an LAPD spokesperson, the pedestrian was hit around 10:32 p.m. Wednesday by a westbound vehicle, a detail reported by MyNewsLA. That timing lines up closely with what KTLA reported after the crash was called in shortly after 10:30 p.m. on the 22100 block of Quinn Circle. A sedan found at the scene had a shattered windshield and a hole on the driver's side, though KTLA notes the driver did not flee and stayed at the crash site.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the crash report to KTLA and said officers were investigating a fatal collision involving a pedestrian. Police urged motorists to avoid the area as investigators remained on scene into Thursday morning, according to the outlet's reporting. The station's article, written by Tony Kurzweil, did not release further details about the victim's identity or the driver's account of what happened.
A Corridor With a Troubled History
Roscoe Boulevard is no stranger to pedestrian tragedy. An April 2016 collision on the 23000 block of the same street killed a mother and daughter crossing in a crosswalk, a case that led to a wrongful death lawsuit against the city alleging poor lighting and dangerous corridor design, as Patch reported at the time. Residents have previously pointed to high vehicle speeds and lighting gaps along the arterial stretch in West Hills.
Speed limits along sections of Roscoe Boulevard were set at 40 mph by the Los Angeles City Council decades ago to satisfy state speed survey requirements needed for LAPD radar enforcement, per an old Los Angeles Times report from 1995. That regulatory history still shapes how fast traffic legally moves through the corridor where Wednesday's crash occurred.
What Happens if a Hit-and-Run Is Confirmed
It remains unclear from available reporting whether the driver will face any charges, since KTLA's account indicates the driver stayed at the scene rather than fleeing. Still, California law treats fleeing a fatal or severe-injury crash as a serious matter: under Vehicle Code Section 20001, leaving the scene without stopping to render aid or provide identification is a felony carrying up to four years in state prison and as much as $10,000 in fines, according to Eisner Gorin LLP.
If LAPD were to formalize a hit-and-run investigation in a separate or future case, the city's standing reward program would automatically apply. Under a 2015 amendment to the Los Angeles Administrative Code, the city offers up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of a driver in a fatal hit-and-run, per the Rodriguez Law Group. The LAPD Valley Traffic Division investigates fatal hit-and-run collisions across the San Fernando Valley and takes anonymous tips through LA Regional Crime Stoppers.
Pedestrian Deaths Outpacing Homicides Citywide
Wednesday's fatality adds to a grim citywide pattern. LAPD statistics from 2025 show traffic crashes killed 290 people in Los Angeles, with more than 150 of those fatalities being pedestrians, marking the third consecutive year traffic deaths have outnumbered homicides in the city, according to the Steven M. Sweat APC pedestrian safety report.
A 2025 city audit found that traffic fatalities in Los Angeles rose 56% between the 2015 launch of the Vision Zero initiative and 2024, when 303 traffic deaths were recorded, reporting from LAist shows. The city had originally aimed to eliminate traffic deaths entirely by 2025. Los Angeles Department of Transportation data indicates that just 6% of the city's total street mileage accounts for 65% of all pedestrian and cyclist deaths and severe injuries, per LADOT Livable Streets, with major arterial corridors like Roscoe Boulevard falling squarely within that high-injury network.
Los Angeles County has separately adopted its own Vision Zero Action Plan, aiming to eliminate traffic fatalities on unincorporated county roadways by 2035 after identifying corridors that average 100 deaths and 450 severe injuries annually, according to the LA County Department of Public Health PLACE Program. For now, LAPD has not released the victim's name, and investigators remained at the West Hills scene into Thursday morning as the crash investigation continued.
