Authorities are searching for the person who was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that slammed into a parked vehicle early Sunday morning, killing one person inside and injuring another, according to police.
About 3:20 a.m., the truck was driving eastbound on Branford Street when it started veering to the right and struck a vehicle on the side of the road, which then slammed into another parked car, police said.
Inside the first car, a Mustang, a person sleeping inside was killed, according to police. After being struck, the Mustang hit a parked Chevrolet El Camino and the person inside was injured.
The driver of the truck got out of the car and ran from the scene, according to police, who are still investigating the cause of the crash.
“It appears there are some empty beer bottles and maybe some drug paraphernalia,” LAPD Sgt. David Delgato said.
While the victim killed has not been identified, a friend told KTLA he had been out of work but still tried helping others without a stable source of shelter.
“He lost his job and condo and everything. He was trying to help us and he had nowhere else to go,” Matthew Tillis said through tears. “He’s given his hard-earned labor to try to help us out, help us get out of here.”
Delgato said the driver could face felony hit-and-run charges and possibly other charges depending on the outcome of the investigation.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated how the vehicles were hit. The post has since been updated.