Hit-and-run driver drags man under car to gas station, California police say

A driver who hit a man in his 60s crossing the street and dragged his body to a nearby gas station before fleeing may face hit-and-run charges, Los Angeles police say.

“Had this person stopped this morning, it would have been an accident,” detective Lisset Fuentes of the Los Angeles Police Department told KTTV. “But they decided to leave, so that’s when it became a hit-and-run.”

A gray or silver sedan, possibly a Kia or Toyota, hit the man as he crossed Foothill Boulevard in Sylmar in the middle of the block at 12:45 a.m. Monday, police said in a statement.

The driver dragged the man’s body under the car into a gas station driveway, then backed up and drove away without checking on him, police wrote. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It’s not right,” neighbor Adriana Chico told KCBS. “If it was an accident, he should’ve waited and called authorities to take action.”

Police are now seeking the driver and vehicle, which has damage to its front end and underbody. Some vehicle parts also were found at the scene, police said.

Police ask that anyone with information on the crash call Valley Traffic Division investigators at 818-644-8033 or 818-644-8036. Anonymous tips can be left at L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or www.lacrimestoppers.org.

This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 7:45 AM with the headline "Hit-and-run driver drags man under car to gas station, California police say."