Luxury Car’s Driver Sought in Hit-and-Run

In the second hit-and-run accident within a week in the San Fernando Valley, a 9-year-old boy was in fair condition after a woman driving a BMW struck him Tuesday morning in a crosswalk at Hazeltine Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard.

The boy was on his way to school at 8:05 a.m. when what Los Angeles police described as a silver, 1990s-model BMW with silver spoke wheels struck him, lifting him onto the hood and the windshield, cracking it.

The driver then braked, throwing the child in front of the car, which ran over his left leg, police said.

“She stopped about 100 feet down the road, looked back and drove off,” LAPD Officer Carl Helm said in reference to the driver.

The boy was airlifted from a playground at nearby Chandler Elementary School and flown to Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles. Los Angeles paramedics said the boy was conscious and alert when they arrived.

The boy will have to undergo surgery for a fractured left femur, said Steve Rutledge, a hospital spokesman. His parents declined comment.

Police said they are looking for a white woman in her mid-30s weighing about 140 pounds with curly brown hair. She would face felony hit-and-run charges, police said.

Tuesday’s hit-and-run accident comes on the heels of a crash last week in which a woman and her 10-month-old daughter were severely injured when a motorist struck them in Sun Valley. A veteran Los Angeles police officer, who was to be questioned in the accident after a partial license plate recorded by witnesses matched the one on his personal vehicle, committed suicide Friday after being confronted by investigators.

Both Juanita Mercado, 23, and her daughter, Leslie De La Cruz, remain hospitalized. The baby, who was dragged by the fleeing Ford Bronco in her stroller before she was tossed onto the road, suffered second- and third-degree burns on 30 percent of her body. She underwent 1 1/2 hours of surgery on Monday at Children’s Hospital to remove burned skin, Rutledge said.

* RELATED STORY: B10