Fatal hit-and-run accident leads to mob beating

A fatal hit-and-run in Hawthorne left one man dead, a good Samaritan injured by another car when she attempted to help, and the motorist who stopped to check on her after allegedly striking her beaten and robbed by a mob of bystanders.

The bizarre chain of events unfolded about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on a busy stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard near the 105 Freeway when a southbound driver struck a pedestrian walking across the street outside the crosswalk.

Hawthorne Police Lt. Gary Tomatoni said the driver of a white or gray minivan fled the scene and as the injured pedestrian lay in the street, a second vehicle ran over the man. That driver also failed to stop and provide aid.

Several pedestrians who saw the two cars hit the man ran to him to try to help. One of the good Samaritans was running across Crenshaw Boulevard toward the victim when she was hit by another motorist traveling southbound.

That motorist stopped to check on the woman, but as he did so, he was attacked by a mob of bystanders.

“These criminal bystanders assaulted the victim and ultimately stole his cellphone,” Tomatoni said. “This victimized driver was able to eventually free himself from the attack and fled the location in his vehicle.”

The man returned a few minutes later, reporting the traffic accident, as well as his assault and robbery, to responding police officers. As police investigators were interviewing the motorist, he saw one of his assailants getting into a nearby car.

Hawthorne police subsequently arrested Tran Lewis, 32, of Long Beach, on suspicion of robbery.

The pedestrian who had been struck by two cars died after being taken to a hospital.

Police found the second driver who hit him based on witness information. That driver was questioned and the vehicle impounded.

ALSO:

Police stunned by mob violence after 2 are hit by cars

-- Richard Winton

Comments

[madmarv]

Are you kidding me?

Nice work, Tran Lewis. you have just become the new poster child for scumbag!

[Khrystyne]

Seriously. W T F is wrong with people!?!?!??!!?

[W2]

In that area of Los Angeles, anyone would fear stepping out of their vehicle, especially if you just ran over one of their "people." If the good Samaritan was beaten and robbed, imagine what would have happned to the motorists had they stopped to administer aid. There would have been 3 casualties in this story. No joke.

[William Desmond Taylor]

Animals

[Mcgibby]

Stay civilized L.A.

[kuruc]

illegals, right?

[dantevious]

they should put up some billboards in that neighborhood that read "Crenshaw...still slightly better than Mexico"

[Person of Interest]

Welcome to HAR-Throne. They need to put up a giant fence around that city to protect the rest of the Southbay from those animals. Hawthorne used to be nice, before they turned the place into a giant Section 8 haven for felons, crack dealers and hookers.

[kim]

What an awful story for everyone involved.

[LD]

Confusing:

A fatal hit-and-run in Hawthorne left one man dead, a good Samaritan injured by another car when she attempted to help, and the motorist who stopped to check on her after allegedly striking her beaten and robbed by a mob of bystanders.

Edited (adding in WAS):

A fatal hit-and-run in Hawthorne left one man dead, a good Samaritan injured by another car when she attempted to help, and the motorist who stopped to check on her after allegedly striking her WAS beaten and robbed by a mob of bystanders.

[stan]

welcome to L.A., just another day as normal. Maybe that Tran guy is a leftover Viet Cong, still mad at Americans.

[H]

Wow what a surprise ghetto behavior in long beach. They reap what they sow.

[John]

Crenshaw near the 105, you can't get anymore thug town than that. I don't blame the drivers for not stopping. Who want's to get assaulted or killed by those crazy loons.

[Decent American]

Just another day in the hood. I never thought my hometown would become worse than Inglewood.

[Bella]

Good Lord what is happening to our cities? Who are these barbarians and where do they come from. This is why so many people avoid helping others. May God have mercy.

[bdflatlander]

A good example of the thousands of dirtbags that live in Los Angeles, particularly that part of the city.

I never go to that part of town because of the high concentration of criminals and other assorted lowlifes that inhabit that area.

[Michael]

This is the kind of society you end up with when you give people money for doing nothing. You have a bunch of people who will not take responsibility for themselves to hang around and beat up people.

I feel sorry for the man who was assaulted. It's bad enough to have someone run in front of your car, and hit them, but to be beat and robbed afterwards is a tragedy.

[Ray]

There's just way too many people and way too many cars in Southern California that incidents like this were bound to happen someday.

Now I don't know if that pedestrian was jay-walking or not nor do I know if the two hit and run drivers were intoxicated and were speeding and didn't see the pedestrian crossing the road. The article doesn't say that.

[truther]

The original copy is correct, LD. You don't need to add "was."

[Tony ( aka Brains)]

First of all a 'tragedy', secondly 'kurue' they were NOT illegals, then 'H' this was IN hawthorne NOT long beach moron try looking at a map sometime. He was 'robbed' because he was an 'easy' target, fortunately he saw one of his 'assailants' and that person got 'caught' maybe the rest will too. The MORAL of this story is WATCH how you drive, then the 'initial' person would NOT have been HIT in the first place !!

[owby]

A similar incident happened in Austin,TX. a couple of years ago.A person was accidently hit by a car driven by two Mexican American gentlemen and when they got out to assist the victim,they were attacked by a mob nd one of them was beaten to death on the spot.

[W2]

@ LD, the LATimes is grammatically correct. If you remove the other items from the list, you are left with:

A fatal hit-and-run in Hawthorne left...the motorist who stopped to check...beaten and robbed by a mob of bystanders.

[OCMEGA]

Posted by: H
Wow what a surprise ghetto behavior in long beach. They reap what they sow.

HAWTHORNE........sad, even North Long Beach is more civilized.

[lbjack]

To H: Hawthorne is NOT Long Beach, where last year, despite a rising population, violent crime decreased 15% (murder decreased 24.4%) and property crime decreased 9.6%, to the lowest levels in decades. Try checking your facts before making a fool of yourself.

In fact, crime nationwide is trending significantly lower, even with a recession and high unemployment. To those who despair of our cities, don't be discouraged by persistent pockets of thug culture, which always are grist for lurid stories like this one.

[Ralph]

at least there are a few good people in that area who actually tried to help.