A 33-year-old man suspected in a November 2024 fatal hit-and-run collision near the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was taken into custody Thursday after returning from El Salvador.
Detectives assigned to the Southern Division Major Crimes Unit responded to the scene of a hit-and-run crash on Nov. 22, 2024, after a vehicle had struck a bicyclist in a parking lot on Figueroa Street, north of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to the California Highway Patrol.
During the investigation, detectives learned that a juvenile victim died as a result of his injuries and the suspect had fled.
The suspect involved in the hit-and-run crash was later identified as Jonathan Rodriguez of Los Angeles, who fled the U.S. to Mexico, prompting the issuance of a $2.2 million extradition warrant for his arrest.
CHP detectives requested assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force to help locate and apprehend Rodriguez.
Further investigation revealed that Rodriguez had fled Mexico to El Salvador utilizing dual citizenship, authorities said.
An attorney for Rodriguez contacted the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to negotiate the terms of his surrender.
“The CHP worked with the USMS, which contacted El Salvadorian officials and Rodriguez’s attorney to coordinate his surrender,” the CHP said in a statement.
Rodriguez boarded a flight Thursday from El Salvador to Los Angeles International Airport, and around noon, the USMS Task Force and U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel boarded the airplane and took him into custody without incident.