LA WEEKLY: Is LAPD Chief Charlie Beck More About Spin Than Solving Hit-and-Run Epidemic?

By Patrick Range McDonald - Tue., Jun. 11 2013

The Los Angeles Police Commission will receive a long-awaited report from LAPD Chief Charlie Beck on Tuesday morning about L.A.'s serious hit-and-run epidemic. Judging from a copy of that report, it looks as if Beck is more interested in repairing public relations damage than solving a major public safety problem.


"The report is all spin to get around the elephant in the room," says Don Rosenberg, an L.A. resident whose son was killed by an unlicensed driver and has been keeping close tabs on the LAPD's response to the hit-and-run crisis. "They don't have a good story on hit and runs, and tried to come up with something else."

L.A. Weekly first exposed the controversy in the widely read 2012 cover story "L.A.'s Bloody Hit-and-Run Epidemic," which caught the attention of L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino and California State Assemblyman Mike Gatto.

In December, former Weekly staff writer Simone Wilson reported that there "is no LAPD task force or organized city effort to address the problem, yet the numbers are mind-boggling. About 20,000 hit-and-run crashes, from fender benders to multiple fatalities, are recorded by the Los Angeles Police Department each year.

"That's huge, even in a city of 3.8 million people. In the United States, 11 percent of vehicle collisions are hit-and-runs. But in Los Angeles, L.A. Weekly has learned, an incredible 48 percent of crashes were hit-and-runs in 2009, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available. According to data collected by the state, some 4,000 hit-and-run crashes a year inside L.A. city limits, including cases handled by LAPD, California Highway Patrol and the L.A. County Sheriff, resulted in injury and/or death. Of those, according to a federal study, about 100 pedestrians died; the number of motorists and bicyclists who die would push that toll even higher."

In January, Councilman Buscaino asked the LAPD to come up with a report to explain what efforts the police were taking to curtail hit and runs.

But that report, signed by Beck, focuses largely on attempting to pick apart the Weekly's cover story, with some mention of what the police are actually doing to combat hit and runs such as holding press conferences and community meetings to alert the public and solicit help in apprehending an individual.

"The councilman is saying we have too many hit and runs. What are you doing about it?" says Rosenberg. "And Beck goes into something else and tries to massage statistics."

Buscaino was unable to comment before the Weekly's deadline.

But Assemblyman Mike Gatto, who represents neighborhoods in L.A. and has been pushing forward a hit-and-run law to extend the statue of limitations for such an offense, tells the Weekly that "more needs to be done" to solve L.A.'s hit-and-run crisis and hopes that Beck will take an "all-hands-on-deck approach" to solve it.

Gatto's office read the LAPD report. After coming up with a questionable statistical formula, Beck's findings state that L.A.'s hit-and-run rate was "comparable to other metropolitan cities in the nation." Gatto says that "runs contrary to what I hear from my constituents."

Rosenberg adds, "They totally ignored public safety" in the report.

What will L.A. police commissioners say?


Send feedback and tips to the author. Follow Patrick Range McDonald on Twitter at @PRMcDonald.

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You can read this article and more at the LA Weekly by clicking HERE

LA Streets Blog: “Damien’s Law?” Gatto Hit and Run Bill Clears Committee

by Damien Newton

Every time a cyclist is struck down by a negligent driver, especially when a hit and run is involved, I shudder. Since most of my on-bike time these days involve having a child either strapped to a seat behind me or nestled in a car-seat attachment in front of me, every crash leaves a scary reminder that no matter how safe I bicycle, I’m reliant on every passing car not to crash into me.

When a struck cyclist happens to share my name, I double-shudder. When the case is as horrific of the one suffered by Damien Kevitt, it’s a triple shudder. Kevitt was struck by a mini-van while riding his bicycle and dragged more than a quarter mile, down Interstate 5.  The collision resulted in dozens of broken bones and the amputation of one of Kevitt’s legs. The driver fled the scene.

Damien Kevitt. Image via ABC 7

In a press statement today celebrating the movement of AB 184, legislation that could lead to more arrests and prosecutions of hit and run drivers, the bill’s sponsor referenced Kevitt’s horrific experience as one more reason that California needs to change the way it views hit and run crashes.

“Damien Kevitt is just one of thousands hit-and-run victims who suffer life-threatening injuries annually,” said Assemblyman Mike Gatto, the legislation’s sponsor.  “Allowing the perpetrators to avoid prosecution just adds insult to these injuries.  AB 184 will allow victims and law enforcement to obtain justice.”

Currently, motorists who flee the scene of an accident can simply ”run down the clock” to avoid any liability whatsoever.  If a motorist is not identified within three years, the motorist cannot be prosecuted.

The legislation, AB 184, provides an additional tool to law enforcement officers investigating hit-and-run offenses by extending the statute of limitations for such offenses to three years from the date of the offense, or one year after a possible suspect is identified by law enforcement, whichever is later.

The Legislature has passed similar changes to statutes of limitations for crimes with hard-to-identify perpetrators, such as clergy abuse.

Eric Bruins, Planning and Policy Director for the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, noted that bicyclists and pedestrians are particularly vulnerable to hit-and-run collisions that result in death or serious bodily injury. “It’s hard for us to encourage people to bike and walk, when our streets are treated like the Wild West,” said Bruins.  “The L.A. County Bicycle Coalition commends Assemblyman Gatto for bringing attention to this issue and giving hit-and-run victims hope that their perpetrators might be brought to justice once identified.”

“This is a relatively easy and sensible fix to the law,” said Gatto.  “Presuming my bill becomes law, my hope is that people who would otherwise flee the scene of an accident realize that they can be prosecuted, no matter how long it takes.”

For Kevitt, new and improved laws come too late, just as the city’s bicycling anti-harassment ordinance came to late for those injured when Dr. Christopher Thompson decided to road-rage on some cyclists. However, if every bike crash helps lead to better laws, then eventually the city and state might finally treat traffic crime for what it really is…an ongoing community health crisis.

You can read this article and more at the LA Streets Blog HERE