Detectives were seeking the public’s help in identifying two men involved in a fatal hit-and-run near the boardwalk in Venice, police said Thursday.
The victim, 35-year-old Eddie Frank Davis, was sleeping on the sidewalk near the intersection of Wavecrest and Speedway avenues when he was run over around 1:25 a.m. last Thursday, April 19, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release.
A GMC SUV was heading north on Speedway Avenue when it veered onto the sidewalk and struck Davis, who was lying at the intersection’s northwest corner, investigators have determined.
Paramedics with the L.A. Fire Department responded to the scene and pronounced Davis dead.
There were two occupants in the vehicle at the time — and driver and passenger — and neither stopped to render aid to the man. Instead, they fled south on Speedway Avenue, police said.
Surveillance video released by LAPD shows the two men either before or after the incident, making multiple stops near the scene of the crime.
Officials described the driver as being between 30 and 35 years old, Latino or white, and measuring about 5 feet 11 inches tall. At the time of the crash, he was wearing a brown jacket and a blue plaid shirt with dark-blue jeans and tennis shoes.
The passenger was described as a Latino man, also between 30 and 35 years old, and around 5 feet 6 inches tall. He was wearing a grey beanie and sweatshirt with dark pants and tennis shoes at the time, detectives said.
The vehicle involved was a dark blue or black late-model GMC Yukon Denali with custom after-market wheels, according to police.
A reward of up to $50,000 is tied to information that leads to the identification, arrest and conviction of the perpetrators.
Anyone with information can contact LAPD detectives at 213-473-0234, or at 877-527-3247 after business hours and on weekends. Anonymous tips can be submitted via Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or www.lacrimestoppers.org.
