Two people were dead after a motorcycle and a luxury sedan collided Shadow Hills on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
The crash occurred shortly after 1 p.m. when a silver Mercedes-Benz turned onto Wentworth Street from Wheatland Avenue at the same time as a motorcycle ws traveling east down the 10300 block of Wentworth, Los Angeles Police Detective Daniel Menesez said.
The drivers of both vehicles were pronounced dead at the scene. The motorcyclist had been decapitated by the force of the impact, investigators said.
A family member identified the car’s driver as 23-year-old Ryan Blanks. The motorcyclist has not been identified.
Footage from the scene showed a motorcycle covered with a red sheet slumped against the driver’s side door of the silver sedan, which had come to rest off the right shoulder.
Firefighters were still working at the scene more than three hours after the crash.
Speed likely contributed to the incident, detectives said.
Residents also point to the fact that there are no traffic lights for about a mile in either direction from the block where the collision occurred.
“I’m here every day, almost all day, and I see people. Motorcycles come here racing, and cars racing,” said Carl Paronian, who lives nearby.
Another local, Mike Johnson, said he believes a light may have prevented Wednesday’s fatalities.
“It’s like a freeway,” he said. “There’s people that cross on their horses, and this is not the first time an accident’s happened here.”
The residents claim they’ve been asking L.A. City Council for traffic lights but haven’t gotten a response. The office of 7th District Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez did not respond to a request for comment from KTLA.
