SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

(01-21) 21:27 PST Hawthorne, Calif. (AP) --

A man crossing a busy Los Angeles-area boulevard was twice struck by hit-and-run drivers, a woman who tried to help him was hit by yet another car, and the driver who tried to help her was beaten and robbed by a mob, police said Friday.

The bizarre chain of events left one man dead, another arrested and had detectives stunned.

"This one had us scratching our heads," Capt. Mike Ishi told the Los Angeles Times. "It's in a league of its own."

It began when a minivan hit a man Wednesday night as he crossed Crenshaw Boulevard in a spot without a crosswalk, Hawthorne Police Lt. Gary Tomatoni said in a statement. The driver fled the scene.

The man was then run over by a second vehicle, Tomatoni said. That driver also failed to stop.

One of several people who ran to help the man and tried to stop oncoming traffic was hit by a car herself.

That driver stopped to help the woman, but he was attacked by others who had run into the street, who beat him and stole his cell phone, Tomatoni said.

The man escaped from the crowd and fled in his car, but returned after police arrived and pointed out one of his assailants.

Police arrested Tran Moore Lewis, 32, of Long Beach, on suspicion of robbery.

Detectives were amazed at the strange set of accidents and even stranger behavior.

"I've never seen anything like this in all my years in Hawthorne," Ishi said.

The initial hit-and-run victim was declared dead at a hospital, police said.

The woman who was hit was taken to a hospital but her injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

Their names have not been released.

Police were still looking for the gray or white minivan that first hit the man.

After talking to witnesses police were able to locate the second driver and impounded his vehicle, the statement said. Police were weighing whether to arrest that man.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

Must be some kind of cellphone car mob.

Posted: Jan 22 2011 04:37 am

And the moral of the story is to just keep driving.

Posted: Jan 22 2011 12:42 pm

Sounds like something you'd see in those Japanese grand prank videos.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

i bet the first guys kept driving so they wouldn't get mugged.

Posted: Jan 22 2011 04:44 pm

What a shame.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

I just like how the police are weighing the notion of arresting the second hit guy or not. He fled the scene of the crime...OBVIOUSLY you arrest him. Idiots.

Joined: Jun 29 2010 Posts: 1818

I guess they are trying to figure out HOW dead the victim was before the second car ran over him. It's stupid, but I can almost understand their reasoning.

Posted: Jan 23 2011 03:01 pm

I think the second dude should be arrested. It's tragic to hear that the first victim was killed, but I think at least some form of punishment lies in the decision to flee the scene, so arrest both of them. If they can determine who actually killed the victim, add harsher penalties.

Posted: Jan 23 2011 03:58 pm

I'd arrest him because you know you ran over something. Most people would get out to check that kind of a bump because clearly it wasn't your normal sized bump unless there are speed bumps on the actual street there. Maybe though the guy has experience with that area and was scared he would get mugged by a mob of people.

Posted: Jan 23 2011 06:09 pm

That driver was insane in the membrane

Posted: Jan 24 2011 02:52 am

They should arrest the first guy for J-Walking.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Yeah, they could crack open the casket for his mugshot.

That is...if his head is still intact.