A man asleep in his car was killed in a hit-and-run accident in the Pacoima neighborhood of Los Angeles early on Sunday. He was believed to have been living out of his car.
A Chevy Silverado pickup truck traveling eastbound on Branford at around 3:30 am rear-ended a Ford Mustang parked near Telfair Avenue, launching it through the air and into a second parked vehicle described as a Chevrolet El Camino, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The Mustang then flipped over and came to rest atop the El Camino on the sidewalk.
“He just didn’t deserve this,” Matthew Tillis told reporters. He said he knew the victim, who was helping him out. Tillis was living in a Winnebago parked next to the victim’s car. Tillis said the victim had fallen on hard times, and had lost his condo and his job.
The person sleeping in the Mustang was killed instantly. A second individual, who was sleeping in the El Camino, miraculously suffered only minor injuries. He was taken to a nearby hospital by a friend. The driver of the Silverado pickup truck fled the scene.
All three vehicles tore through a makeshift encampment of tents and lean-tos located between the camper and the vehicles. Luckily, no one was sleeping in the encampment at the time of the accident.
“We have one fatality here. This individual was sleeping in the parked car when the driver of that Chevy Silverado collided with it,” said Capt. Andrew Neiman of the Los Angeles Police Department, Traffic Division.
Police said they found empty beer bottles and drug paraphernalia in the truck.
“This is just another example to remind people that no matter what the circumstances are, if you’re involved in a collision, we need you to stay at the scene,” Neiman said. “The law requires it.”
Neiman said police were seeking the public’s help to identify the driver of the Chevy Silverado, who fled on foot following the collision.
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