Crime & Safety
Hit-and-Run Driver Sought In Crash That Killed Girl, 4 Near PCH
The Friday wreck also critically injured the girl's father and her 5-year-old brother, police said.
HARBOR CITY, CA — Authorities Monday appealed for public help to find a motorist involved in a crash in Harbor City that fatally injured a 4-year- old girl and critically injured her father and 5-year-old brother.
The crash occurred about 8:20 p.m. Friday on Vermont Avenue near Pacific Coast Highway, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
According to police, a possibly white four-door vehicle made a U-turn in front of a truck in which the children were riding.
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"The truck veered into oncoming traffic and ran off the roadway colliding with several trees and a light post," an LAPD statement said. "The driver of the white vehicle did not stop and identify themselves or render aid."
Paramedics took the man and the children to a hospital, where the girl died. Authorities had not released her name as of Monday. KTLA5 identified her as Jayda Sanchez, and reported that her brother and her father — who was driving the vehicle — were hospitalized.
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The family was leaving a park when the other vehicle made the illegal turn, forcing the father to swerve and causing his truck to roll into a post, Channel 5 reported.
The man and his son have major injuries but are expected to recover, KTLA 5 reported.
"Whoever did this, just come clean, just turn yourself in," Adriana Rodriguez, Jayda's mother, said in remarks broadcast on Channel 5. "You took a poor innocent baby."
A standing reward of up to $50,000 has been offered by the city of Los Angeles for information that leads to the "identification, apprehension, and conviction or resolution through a civil compromise" of a motorist involved in a fatal hit and run.
Anyone with information about the crash was urged to call the LAPD South Traffic Division at 323-421-2500, 877-LAPD-247 or Crime Stoppers at 800- 222-TIPS.
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--City News Service
