Homeless Man Lying in Street Is Struck by Car, Killed

To the motorist driving along Vermont Avenue a few hours before dawn Thursday, the jumbled pile in the middle of the lane, suddenly illuminated by his headlights, appeared to be a heap of old clothing or cardboard. But when his car struck it, police said, the life of a transient ended.

“It’s a real tragic thing,” said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Hank Davis.

Davis said the apparently homeless 34-year-old man had been involved in an argument in a nearby restaurant shortly before 3 a.m., and was followed outside by another patron, who struck him in the face and left him lying unconscious in the street on busy Vermont Avenue.

“Shortly thereafter, here comes a vehicle who strikes the victim,” Davis said. The motorist “just didn’t see him (until the last moment) and thought he was a piece of cardboard or something.”

Police did not release the name of either the victim or the motorist.

The vehicle dragged the man about 100 feet before the driver realized something was stuck under his car. He then stopped and discovered the body, police said.

“He was in shock when we talked to him,” Davis said. “He did not realize he had struck a person and, of course, he was emotionally upset.”

Witnesses said they saw the transient get punched in the face and fall to the pavement on Vermont near 6th Street only a few minutes before he was struck by the car, Officer Mike Kaden said.

The man who allegedly fought with the transient was questioned but was not booked on any charges, Kaden said.

The incident was not being investigated as a homicide, he said.