2 Cars Hit Woman, Flee Scene

On Aug. 8, Rose Arradondo stood with police and asked for the public’s help in finding her 79-year-old mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease and had not returned to her South Los Angeles home since the day before.

At the time, Arradondo and police did not know that Betty Frances Palmer was at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on life support after being struck by two vehicles on Aug. 7 at around 11 p.m. near the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Wilton Place.

The two motorists did not stop. The accident occurred about 10 miles from her home. Arradondo said her mother may have taken a bus.

A gray Pontiac Grand Am is believed to have been the first to hit Palmer, said LAPD Officer Joseph Gryder. The driver stopped long enough to look at the woman and then fled, Gryder said.

Minutes later, as other motorists stopped and police were called, another driver struck Palmer as he drove around the backed-up cars.

“We’re not exactly sure if the driver of the second vehicle knew he ran over a pedestrian,” Gryder said. Police do not have a description of that vehicle or its driver, he said.

Palmer suffered serious head injuries. But her family clings to hope that she will recover.

When someone told her that two cars had run over her mother, Arradondo said she “just lost it. There was so much tears. It just seems so callous. It’s a miracle she could survive.”

Police investigating Palmer’s disappearance had called several places, including Cedars-Sinai, in hopes of finding her. The hospital had a “Jane Doe” who turned out to be Palmer, Arradondo said.

Arradondo last saw her mother sitting in her favorite chair watching TV, she said. Arradondo said she left the room and, when she returned, her mother had left the Arlington Avenue home.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the LAPD’s South Traffic Division at (323) 290-6063.