Los Angeles police have found the vehicle driven by a woman who struck a pedestrian at a South L.A. vigil for a cyclist killed in a hit-and-run, but they’re still looking for the driver, whose photo was released Monday.
The incident occurred at busy Normandie and Manchester avenues April 11 during a rowdy gathering to bring attention to the death of 22-year-old Frederick Frazier, who was killed at the same location a day earlier.
Dozens of cyclists were in the intersection, some of them blocking traffic, when the female driver of an apparent gold older-model Toyota Avalon tried to drive her vehicle through the bikes, video from the scene showed.
The Avalon driver then got out of her car and into a brief physical altercation with a female cyclist – a moment also captured on video.
A Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who arrived at the intersection tried to calm traffic but was targeted by several cyclists, some of whom attacked the sergeant’s SUV, according to police and video.
The Avalon driver, meanwhile, got back in her car, made a U-turn, then returned and sped through a red light, hitting a man who was crossing the street. The victim, identified by friends and his brother as Quatrell Stallings, was sent flying into the air. He was hospitalized with multiple broken bones and last week was due for surgery.
He was apparently friends with Frazier.
A KTLA reporter and photographer were covering the vigil and witnessed the hit-and-run; the photographer was narrowly missed by the hit-and-run driver.
In releasing a photo of the driver Monday, LAPD said the vehicle she was driving is in police custody. The driver remains wanted for assault with a deadly weapon, police said.
She was described as a black woman between 25 and 30 years old. She’s about 5 feet tall and around 120 pounds.
At the time of the crash, she was was wearing a white top, a multicolored headscarf and multicolored tights. She had a nose ring and a tattoo on the left side of her stomach, police said.
Police described the victim as a cyclist, but video at the scene showed him without a bike at the time he was hit.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Farish at 323-786-5447, or, for afterhours calls, 877-527-3247. Anonymous tips can be left at 800-222-8477.