Man seeks justice for twin brother killed by car in 1959

A man has spent the last few years fighting for police and prosecutors to reopen the case of the 1959 death of his twin brother, who was killed by a passing car while playing on a Torrance street.

The two 8-year-olds were playing near the corner of Crenshaw Boulevard and 236th Place on March 2, 1959, when Lynn Johnston tossed a bottle across the street and his brother Lyle ran to get it. Crossing back over Crenshaw, Lyle was hit by an Oldsmobile as Lynn watched in horror.

"I had nightmares for years. I was always afraid to be left alone," said Johnston, now 60 and a telecommunications salesman living in Kingston, Wash., on Puget Sound northwest of Seattle. "I always had issues."

Against very long odds, he wants authorities to consider charges against the driver.

"There was no official action on this back in 1959," he said. "Who dropped the ball?"

Read Bob Pool's full Column One on the case: An identical twin's quest for the truth

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-- Bob Pool

Photo: Lynn Johnson. Credit: Kevin Casey / For The Times