Recent Streetsblog LA posts about hit and run

Friends of Oscar Toledo, Jr., gather to mourn at the site where he was killed by a hit-and-run driver near 47th and Normandie in South L.A. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog LA

“What Happened to Human Decency?”: Friends and Family of South L.A. Hit-and-Run Victim Seek Answers

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jun 13, 2014 | No Comments

“I know it wasn’t even his fuckin’ fault!” railed Daniela, 19. She was unsuccessfully fighting back tears yesterday as she stood alongside the light pole serving as the unofficial memorial site for bicyclist Oscar Toledo, Jr., killed in a hit-and-run at 47th and Normandie in South L.A. less than 24 hours earlier. Toledo had “always […]

Gatto Legislation Would Create Alert System For Hit-and-Run Crashes

By Damien Newton | Jun 13, 2014 | 1 Comment

It is too common a story. A family is crossing the street or some friends are bicycling along when a negligent car driver changes their lives forever. While the victims lie wounded in the street, the driver flees and is never heard from again. Advocates for safe streets, victims of hit-and-run crashes, and their friends […]

California Legislation Watch: Weekly Update

By Melanie Curry | May 30, 2014 | No Comments

The California Legislature saw a lot of action in the last two weeks on bills related to sustainable transportation. The deadline to pass bills out of committee was on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, and today is the deadline for all bills to be voted on by their houses of origin. If they couldn’t pass […]

Addressing the Hit-and-Run Epidemic: When “Finishing the Ride” Acts as the Launch of a Movement

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 28, 2014 | 2 Comments

So, this is what it takes to make people angry enough to care, I thought as I looked out over the sea of elected officials, journalists, cameras, and cyclists gathering at the start point for Damian Kevitt’s Finish the Ride event Sunday morning. It apparently takes someone like Kevitt being dragged under a van onto […]

Carmen Tellez, mother of hit-and-run victim Andy Garcia, tells local news outlets she is disappointed with the outcome of the sentencing hearing for Wendy Villegas. Sahra Sulaiman/LA Streetsblog

Judge to Hit-and-Run Perpetrator: Don’t Do it Again or it Will Be Considered Murder

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 22, 2014 | 20 Comments

“If you drink and drive and kill someone again, [this time] it will carry a charge of murder with a minimum sentence of 15 years,” the judge told 21-year-old Wendy Villegas at her sentencing hearing. “Do you understand?”* Her words had been meant to admonish Villegas — to convey the idea that slamming into a […]

Plea Deal for Drunk Driver that Killed Andy Garcia Does Little to Ease Pain of Victims, Friends, and Families

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 4, 2014 | 12 Comments

Even the judge looked confused when the plea deal offered to Wendy Villegas was read out in court, says a somber Mario Lopez. Villegas could have been sentenced to up to 15 years for having come tearing up the bridge on Cesar Chavez drunk last September 14th, slamming into Luis “Andy” Garcia and dragging his […]

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