The Los Angeles Police Department is looking for a woman who was violently struck at an illegal street takeover as seen on a viral video on social media.
Street takeovers have plagued cities as car enthusiasts race their vehicles and skid in circles in intersections dangerously close to spectators who record on their cellphones.
Police said the video came from a takeover on April 13 at the intersection of Manchester Avenue and San Pedro Street in the Florence neighborhood of south L.A. A driver was “conducting dangerous maneuvers known as donuts,” with an Infinity G37, according to police, when they lost control and slammed into the crowd.
The woman appeared to be unconscious and bleeding from her head after it hit the pavement. Police said the driver fled and some spectators carried the injured woman away.
The condition of the woman is unknown.
The LAPD South Traffic Division says they are trying to identify the woman who was struck in the video and so far, their efforts have been met with no success.
“We’ve checked in with the coroner’s office, our missing persons, I think these guys even tried using some facial recognition software to try and identify this person, and so far, we’ve struck out everywhere,” said LAPD Detective Ryan Moreno at a media briefing.
No hospitals reported admitting a young woman with head injuries about that time either. He went on to say that investigators have been able to obtain some information that leads them to believe she may be dead.
“We started monitoring some of the chatter in that street racing world and some of our investigators from street racing task-force intercepted some chatter that would leave us to believe that there’s a slight change that this girl might be deceased,” Moreno added.
“We don’t know who she is, where she is, or how seriously her injuries are,” he said.
Police are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the hit-and-run driver.
Law enforcement officials caution race fans from attending or participating in street takeovers. In one lethal incident from St. Petersburg, Florida, a 13-year-old boy was struck by a racing motorcycle and killed as he attended the illegal event with his father.
Here’s more about the takeover accident:
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