Hit-and-Run Driver Sought After Leaving Woman to Die in Wrecked Vehicle in Compton

Authorities are searching for a hit-and-run driver who fled on foot after a fatal car crash in Compton Monday night.

The collision occurred about 8:50 p.m. as the victim was driving eastbound on Alondra Boulevard in a black Nissan Altima, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Danny Martinez said. A man in a blue Mitsubishi Montero was heading southbound on South Bullis Road at the same time and slammed into the victim’s vehicle in the intersection, according to the Sheriff’s Department. Surveillance video captured the moment of the impact. Authorities at the scene believe the Mitsubishi driver may have run a stop sign prior to the crash but that was still under investigation, Martinez said. The Mitsubishi driver fled on foot, leaving the victim trapped inside her Nissan. Paramedics arrived to extricate the woman, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. Family members later identified her as 20-year-old Jennifer Lopez. “All we want is justice,” her cousin Ivonne Guzman said. “If you’re watching this, go to the police station … turn yourself in … you killed a person,” she said. Lopez was going to turn 21 in June and was very excited about a job she recently started at Centinela Hospital, family members told KTLA. An impromptu memorial was growing Tuesday at the site where she was killed. Authorities have not released a description of the hit-and-run driver. Martinez said the driver could face anything from a felony hit-and-run charge to vehicular manslaughter.