20-year-old ‘had a future’ — then hit-and-run driver left her to die, LA family says

After a hit-and-run driver slammed into a 20-year-old woman’s car Monday night, residents of a Compton neighborhood could hear her pleas from inside the wreckage, KTTV reported.

“I hear somebody saying ‘help me, help me,’” said Doris Summerville, according to the station.

But Los Angeles firefighters couldn’t free Jennifer Lopez from her mangled Nissan before she died, KTLA reported.

“She was a very quiet person,” said Ivonne Guzman, her cousin, KNBC reported. “She was a really nice girl. She was just a happy person inside. She had a future ahead.”

Guzman said Lopez had recently started a job at an Inglewood hospital and looked forward to her 21st birthday in June, KTTV reported.

The driver of the other vehicle, a Mitsubishi, ran away following the crash in the intersection of Alondra Boulevard and South Bullis Road, said Sgt. Danny Martinez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, KTLA reported.

The other driver may have run a stop sign before the collision, according to the station.

Lopez’s family asked for anyone with information on the wreck to contact investigators, and also had a message for the driver, KNBC reported.

“We’re hurt,” Guzman said, according to the station. “Turn yourself in. You killed a person.”

This story was originally published May 7, 2019 at 12:54 PM with the headline "20-year-old ‘had a future’ — then hit-and-run driver left her to die, LA family says."