The coroner’s office Saturday released the name of a homeless pedestrian fatally struck by several vehicles in Watts, including a sheriff’s department patrol vehicle.
Karen Land was 60, according to coroner’s Lt. David Smith. She had no residence.
A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy struck the woman at 6:23 a.m. while driving westbound on Imperial Highway, approaching Slater Avenue, according to Deputy Shawn Du Busky.
The preliminary investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department, which is handling the investigation, found that the pedestrian was struck by several vehicles after being struck by the deputy’s vehicle, and at least one of them fled the scene, according to LAPD Officer Tony Im.
But the sheriff’s department maintains that the deputy’s vehicle was the last one to hit the victim.
“Early this morning … a deputy driving a patrol vehicle struck an object on the roadway while traveling westbound on Imperial Highway approaching Slater Avenue,” a sheriff’s statement reads. “The deputy immediately stopped and learned the object was a person. The preliminary investigation revealed the person was laying on the roadway because they had been struck by several other vehicles, prior to the deputy collision.”