A woman on a skateboard was fatally struck in Playa del Rey Thursday by a motorist who fled the scene, but a suspect was later arrested.
Officers sent to the intersection of Pershing Drive and Manchester Avenue about 1:15 a.m. found the victim lying on the roadway, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Patricia Ann O’Donnell, 48, died at the scene, according to the coroner’s office. Her home town was not known.
Patrick Finkelstein, 45, of Santa Monica, was booked on suspicion of “vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence,” and bail was set at $100,000, the LAPD reported.
O’Donnell had walked out of a nearby business and was showing a friend her skateboard — initially riding in a parking lot before going into the street — when she was struck in the No. 2 lane of Pershing Drive by a vehicle traveling northbound, according to LAPD Capt. Brian Wendling.
The driver of the vehicle, described as a black Audi A5, failed to stop and fled the scene, police said.
“Officers conducted a follow-up, (and) the driver of the Audi was subsequently arrested and the Audi was impounded as evidence,” according to an LAPD statement. “The preliminary investigation has revealed this is an alcohol-/drug-related traffic collision.”
Before the arrest, Wendling urged people involved in crashes not to flee.
“We used to call them traffic accidents for a reason and it doesn’t become a crime at that point,” Wendling said. “When you flee the scene like that, it becomes a felony crime. There’s no reason to flee the scene.”