BUENA PARK : Family and Authorities Seek Tips in Hit-and-Run Death

A residents’ group is spreading flyers to collect information about a hit-and-run driver who killed a local teen-ager.

Christopher Pugh, 18, was killed instantly at about 5:30 p.m. last Tuesday when his motorcycle was struck by a red pickup truck at Alondra Boulevard and Stage Road in nearby La Mirada, said Lt. Daryl Lance of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

About 50 friends and residents are trying to find eyewitnesses to the accident, family friend Jennifer Patalsky said. They plan to have 3,000 to 4,000 flyers distributed by early this week.

Friends are also seeking donations for a trust fund to help the family pay for the funeral and to offer a reward to witnesses, Patalsky said.

“We’re begging the public for information,” she said. “We have nothing to go on.”

David Pugh, the father of the victim, said the family has drawn tremendous emotional support from the effort.

“Having people call and ask to help is helping me, not bothering me,” he said from his Huntington Beach home. “I want the person who did this to my son to be caught. My baby was only 18 years old, and he was left there to die. It’s just not human.” Christopher was buried Saturday in Norwalk.

People with information should call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in Norwalk at (714) 994-2970. Donations can be made to the Chris Pugh Trust Fund at any Wells Fargo Bank.