Los Angeles police reached out to the public for help Tuesday finding the hit-and-run motorist who killed a 32-year-old man earlier this month in South Los Angeles.
Tomas Lopez Onofre was struck around 5:15 a.m. Dec. 10 near the intersection of Florence and Kansas avenues, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Onofre was taken to a hospital, where he died Dec. 14, according to the county medical examiner.
His family said they believe Onofre was trying to catch a bus on his way to his job as a fork lift operator when he was struck.
“I would just like to plead to the person who did this to our family to please come forward,” Onofre’s niece, Karen, told reporters at a Tuesday morning news conference. “We know you’re scared. We know it may have been an accident, but you’re at home enjoying your holidays while we’re suffering, and we’re making funeral arrangements for my uncle. He did not deserve this.”
Detective Ryan Moreno of the LAPD’s South Traffic Division said investigators were able to obtain video that shows the hit-and-driver appearing to circle the area in a white Cadillac sedan after striking the pedestrian, perhaps contemplating whether to stop and render assistance.
“We ended up getting more video in that little pocket of the neighborhood, and it’s kind of basically doing laps and circles,” Moreno said. “So, I don’t know, we’re thinking that probably (the driver) was struggling with it mentally, emotionally and what to do. Should I? Should I not? And, you know, ultimately, they never came back.”
A $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the driver, police said.
During Tuesday’s news conference, police also announced arrests in a pair of other fatal hit-and-run crashes.
One of those cases involved the death of 4-year-old Ma’Cya Clark, who was killed March 18 during what police called a street race, in which a woman crashed an Infiniti SUV into a building near Crenshaw Boulevard and Rodeo Place in the Baldwin Hills area. Ma’Cya and his mother were both passengers in the SUV, relatives said.
According to police and jail records, the alleged driver, Shanae Monique Glover, 37, was arrested Dec. 23 and remains held on $2 million bail. She was charged last week with murder, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and hit-and-run driving causing death, according to court records.
Ma’Cya’s mother, whom investigators said also fled the scene of the crash and went into hiding, was also arrested and booked on suspicion of child cruelty, police said.
The second case involved a July 5 two-vehicle crash at Figueroa and 91st streets in the Vermont Vista area that killed 25-year-old Emerson Noel Escobar Gonzalez. Police said a woman driving a Porsche south on Figueroa T-boned Gonzalez’s vehicle, then fled the scene on foot.
The suspect in that case, Cierra Whitaker, allegedly fled the state and was tracked by federal authorities to Atlanta, where she was taken into custody, police said. She was booked into jail in Los Angeles on Dec. 18, but later released on bond, according to jail records.
She is due back in court in Compton on Jan. 6 when a date will be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for her to stand trial on charges of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and hit-and-run driving resulting in death.
The LAPD’s South Traffic Division can be reached at 213-458-3472, or after hours at 323-421-2570 or 877-527-3247. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or visit lacrimestoppers.org.