Police Searching for Hit-and-Run Driver

A CSUN student injured in a hit-and-run accident while on in-line skates remained in a coma Tuesday and police asked the public for help in finding the driver who sped away from the scene.

Chris Mann, 20, was listed in critical condition at Northridge Hospital Medical Center after lapsing into a coma caused by fat from his bone marrow entering into his bloodstream. Doctors at the hospital said his condition is called fat embolism syndrome.

Mann also suffered two broken legs in the accident.

He was skating on Valley Circle Boulevard just south of Kittridge Street on Thursday at about 6:30 p.m. when struck by what police believe was a blue or gray car, possibly a Toyota Tercel. Det. Patrick Ramsey of the Valley Traffic Division said the car apparently swung into the bicycle lane in an effort to pass traffic. The car hit Mann, causing him to fly into the air and hit the car’s windshield, shattering it.

As Mann lay on the ground, witnesses said, the male driver sped away.

Inside the intensive care unit at Northridge Hospital on Tuesday, Mann’s 22-year-old brother, Scott, said his family has kept a vigil, hoping his condition will improve.

“He keeps going through these high fevers,” he said. “It’s a difficult situation. We are just waiting to see what happens. That’s all we can do now. And anybody who sees a blue car with a shattered windshield should be suspicious.”

Mann said his brother, who wanted to study international law, planned to travel back to Japan where he had spent a summer last year as an exchange student. He was a political science major at CSUN and lived with his mother, a teacher at Hart Street Elementary School in West Hills.

Anyone with information is urged to call police at (818) 756-8391