Los Angeles police officers get ready to respond to a call. Despite offering $50,000 rewards, the police department has a difficult time solving most hit-and-run cases, according to columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson.
Courtesy photo
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Contributing Columnist
It was so rare that it made instant news in Los Angeles. The “it” was the speedy arrest of a woman suspected of a hit-and-run fatality. In this case the hit and run killing occurred in Chino.
It can’t be said enough that this is a rarity. I’m not speaking of the hit-and-run fatality. I’m speaking of the arrest.
Here’s an idea of how rare that is. There were more than 7,000 known hit-and-run accidents in Los Angeles from 2022 to 2024. While only a small percent of the hit and runs resulted in death, the troubling, eye popping statistic was that an infinitesimal number of hit-and-run drivers were ever arrested. How infinitesimal? Exactly 1%.
It gets even worse. The number of hit and runs, according to Los Angeles Police Department figures, have dropped in the last year. But not in South Los Angeles, where a disproportionate number of the hit and runs occur. And as the figures show, the likelihood of an arrest is slim to almost none.
Alarmed at the mounting peril, I have repeatedly called attention to the grim death surge from hit and runs in South L.A. and made several calls on the LAPD, the Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, and city officials to take urgent action to deal with the crisis. I have made several proposals for action.
But first, let’s look at the ins and outs of hit-and-run accidents. The law is both clear and uniform in all states. Drivers must exchange licenses and insurance with another driver or pedestrian whenever an accident occurs. That is a mandatory requirement, particularly when there is a personal injury. That is where the problem begins.
A driver who strikes another vehicle or — worse a pedestrian — often panics. They fear arrest, jailing and potentially a conviction and imprisonment.
There are many circumstances that cause hit-and-run accidents. The most common are drug and alcohol impairment, speeding, driver distraction, cell phone use and sleep deprivation drowsiness.
Drivers that hit and run flee because they have been involved in a crime, lack a valid driver’s license and/or insurance, are intoxicated or on drugs. At the very least, a driver involved in a hit and run fears not just prosecution but loss of a driver’s license.
The problem of hit and run incidents and fatalities is not just an L.A. problem. It’s a national problem.
In 2022, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported more than 67,000 pedestrians were injured and more than 7,500 were killed in collisions in the United States.
However, the pedestrian deaths tell a different story. It’s the number of deaths from hit and runs that have most worried officials. The number of those killed has sharply risen within the past decade. One of the major reasons for that is driver speeding. And much of that can be attributed to an equally sharp rise in road rage driving incidents.
Traffic experts estimate that more than 80% of drivers in the U.S. have experienced road rage. Many continually are angered and frustrated when behind the wheel. They either knowingly or out of emotional anger are prone to speed and just as prone to injure another motorist or pedestrian.
There’s yet another problem in curbing hit and run driving. Few who witness a hit-and-run incident will come forth. The standard procedure when one witnesses a hit and run is to call 911, take photographs, jot down the license plate and give a description of the vehicle and report it to the police when they arrive.
Unfortunately, many who do witness hit and runs will do none of those things. The reason is simple. They fear involvement and they fear possible harm to them if they do come forth with information about the driver.
The LAPD routinely offers a reward of $50,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of a hit-and-run driver when there is a fatality. That has done little to move individuals who witness a hit and run fatality to come forth. The fear factor and the standard reluctance to “get involved” remain powerful disincentives for citizens to report hit-and-run killings.
This is a prime reason why the surge in hit and runs in South L.A. has occurred. The antidote that has been proposed is the creation of a special hit and run task force by law enforcement agencies followed by tough prosecution of the hit-and-run driver. In the absence of those measures, the guarantee is that hit and run deaths and fleeing drivers that cause them will continue to soar in South L.A.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His latest book is “Trump for Sale” (Middle Passage Press).
