A man walking along Central Avenue in South Los Angeles was struck and killed by a driver who fled the scene Tuesday night, leaving investigators with no description of the vehicle or the person behind the wheel. The collision happened around 8:47 p.m. near 69th Street and Central Avenue, according to a police spokesperson.
The man was walking westbound on Central Avenue, outside of a crosswalk, when he was hit by a vehicle heading southbound, according to Los Angeles Daily News. The driver did not stop to identify himself or render aid, as required by law, police said. Los Angeles Fire Department personnel responded to the scene and pronounced the victim dead there.
No description of the fleeing vehicle or the suspect was immediately available, the outlet reported. Video from the scene showed a white medical examiner tent set up at the site of the collision as investigators worked to piece together what happened. Police units remained on scene as of 1 a.m. Thursday, the report noted.
A Pattern of Deadly Hit-and-Runs in South LA
This is not the only recent case of a driver abandoning a victim on South Los Angeles streets. Just a month earlier, at least two drivers fled after three vehicles struck and killed a man in Watts, according to CBS Los Angeles, in a collision that happened near Imperial Highway and Central Avenue around 10:03 p.m.
Elsewhere in South Los Angeles, a 16-year-old boy named Hernan Martinez was killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking with his mother and sister, CBS Los Angeles reported separately. Neighbors told the station that the intersection where he died had been dangerous for years, with drivers often speeding and running stop signs. Another possible hit-and-run killed a man near West 54th Street and South Broadway in the South Park neighborhood, according to KTLA, though details about that vehicle and whether its driver stayed at the scene were never made available.
A Citywide Problem Despite Falling Numbers
The Tuesday night death adds to a grim count across Los Angeles. Traffic collisions killed 290 people citywide in 2025, and more than 150 of those fatal collisions involved pedestrians, according to LAPD data cited by LAist. That marked a 6% decrease from 2024, and the second consecutive year that traffic deaths on city streets had declined, though the outlet noted fatalities remained above pre-pandemic levels.
The city has poured nearly $350 million into its Vision Zero safety program as of February, per the same outlet's reporting. Still, an audit released in April 2025 found that a lack of cohesion across departments, an unbalanced approach, and insufficient political will had hampered the initiative's effectiveness. For now, the driver who struck and killed a man on Central Avenue remains unidentified, and the investigation continues.
