INGLEWOOD – Authorities have identified a woman killed while crossing the street in Inglewood on June 18.
Inglewood Police Department officers and Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics responded to the intersection of Queen Street and Locust Street in the early afternoon to reports of a City employee hitting an elderly woman as she crossed the street inside the crosswalk on a green light.
The City employee is a driver who delivers meals to senior citizens. The accident occurred in between the Inglewood Senior Center and several senior living complexes.
The driver was observed by members of the public heading eastbound on Queen Street. After the traffic light changed to green, the driver made a left turn, to head northbound on Locust Street where she struck the victim who was making her way across the street.
It is believed the driver was distracted by her cellphone.
The victim was rushed to Harbor-UCLA Medical Examiner and pronounced deceased from her injuries at 3:52 p.m.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the woman as 83-year-old Maria Lopez.
This accident follows a string of accidents involving City employees hitting pedestrians in taxpayer-funded vehicles.
Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. cost the City nearly $16 million in legal fees and settlements after slamming a city-owned SUV registered to the Inglewood Police Department into an LAPD motor officer and a mother and her child in May 2019.
Months later, in November 2019, then Lt. Neal Cochran ran into Brenda Swarts, an Inglewood resident, as she attempted to cross the street at Beach and La Brea Ave.
Swartz was in the crosswalk headed North on LaBrea when she was hit by Cochran who disobeyed posting signs that indicated you couldn’t turn on a red light.
Cochran was then promoted to Captain over the Detective Bureau which is investigating the death of Ms. Lopez.
1 Comment
Any death is sad and should make us consider that ALL LIVES are important.
Automobile vs pedestrian are made even more horrible when those entrusted with the care of others violate basic rules of the road.
DISTRACTED DRIVING is unacceptable.
To promote someone so disregarding of a posted sign that he hits a pedestrian seems ABSOLUTELY UNETHICAL ( but actually so par for this administration it is almost expected).
Let us all pause for a moment and think of the reality both these women were following crosswalk rules!! While the drivers did not follow that Pedestrian Right of Way concept even in a crosswalk.
There is no way to bring back a life ! A life can be snuffed out in a matter of seconds!
Chances are both these drivers had been at these busy pedestrian intersections countless times.
Especially near the Senior Center one must always be mindful that as we age we all walk more slowly !
These are just 2 examples of non tourist traffic….if our own employees were destracted…..,
clearly the foolishness of the digital billboard distractions should make our elected recognized that the minimal income they generate could evaporate with even one skilled lawyer after a tourist fascinated with an ad runs into or over a pedestrian.
Who wants to place a bet whether either of these traffic interactions (potential million dollar lawsuits) made it into the State of the City address?