A 2-month-old baby is dead and the infant's mother remained in grave condition Friday night after a driver who caused a violent chain-reaction crash in Northridge sped off without stopping to help. The collision happened near Roscoe Boulevard and Louise Avenue at around 3:10 p.m. on Wednesday, leaving three people in a Toyota Prius severely injured and touching off a search for the driver responsible.
According to KTLA, the chain of events began when a silver sedan turned left from eastbound Roscoe Boulevard onto southbound Louise Avenue. A white pickup truck then turned left behind that sedan without yielding to oncoming traffic, according to police. A white 2025 Toyota Crown traveling eastbound on Roscoe with a green light swerved left to avoid the pickup, lost control, and crashed head-on into a white 2017 Toyota Prius.
The Prius was carrying three people: its driver, a 20-year-old mother, and her 2-month-old baby. All three were severely injured and hospitalized, police said. The infant later died at the hospital, while the mother remained in grave condition as of Friday night, per the outlet's report. The Toyota Crown driver stayed at the scene, but the pickup driver did not stop, did not provide information to authorities, and did not help the victims, according to police.
Driver Fled Scene Without Stopping
The suspect fled the scene without stopping to check on the injured victims, according to KTLA's report on the crash. California law requires drivers involved in collisions to stop, provide information, and render aid to anyone hurt, and officials have said fleeing the scene under these circumstances is considered a crime. Police have also described the type of collision caused by one driver forcing another to lose control, without the vehicles ever touching, as a non-contact collision.
A reward of up to $50,000 is available to anyone who provides information leading to the suspect's identification and apprehension, the station's report noted. Officials have not said whether a suspect has been identified or arrested in connection with the case, and that detail remains unresolved. Anyone with information has been asked to contact LAPD Valley Traffic Division Officer Hansen at 818-644-8255 or Detective Martinez at 818-644-8033, or to leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
A Stretch of Roscoe Boulevard With a Painful History
This is not the first time a Northridge intersection along Roscoe Boulevard has been the site of tragedy. A separate crash in 2023 occurred near Roscoe Boulevard and Lindley Avenue at about 1:15 a.m., as reported by the Los Angeles Times. In that incident, an off-duty San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy riding in the back seat was injured and taken to a hospital, and police said preliminary evidence led them to suspect the driver was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision. LAPD Chief Michel Moore said at the time that the driver was expected to be arrested and charged with gross vehicular manslaughter.
That earlier case is a separate incident from Wednesday's crash, but it underscores how often this stretch of Roscoe Boulevard has turned deadly for Northridge families. For now, investigators are focused on finding the driver of the white pickup truck, whose failure to yield set off the fatal chain reaction that claimed a 2-month-old's life and left a young mother clinging to hers.
