A blanket-clad homeless man was fatally struck by three separate drivers on a Los Angeles street, none of whom stopped to help as he lay dying in the middle of the road.
The first collision occurred just before midnight Friday, when a light-colored pickup truck driving the wrong way slammed into the victim as he was crossing San Fernando Road in the Pacoima neighborhood, police said.
Still images from a surveillance video from Amgad Kahlil’s nearby business shows the man being knocked down as the vehicle that struck him drives on.
“Nobody deserves this, nobody,” Khalil told NBC Los Angeles. “I wouldn’t wish that on my enemy.”
The victim, believed to be a man in his 20s or early 30s, survived the initial impact and seemed to be struggling to get back on his feet.
Another vehicle traveling on the opposite side of the road briefly slowed down next to the injured man, but did not stop.
He was then soon hit by a person driving a light-colored SUV and thrown several feet. Finally, a dark-colored SUV struck the man and dragged him a short distance before taking off from the scene, according to Khalil,.
Khalil did not witness the three consecutive crashes in real time but rushed to the man’s aid as soon as he learned of what happened.
“I walked up to him, put the light on him — he was not breathing,” the business owner said.
The man later died of his injuries. He has not been identified as of Wednesday.
Khalil said he recognized the victim as a homeless man whom he would often see walking around wrapped in a blanket.
He was aghast at the apparent callousness of the three drivers who did not bother to stop after striking the innocent pedestrian.
“What would they have thought if that was one of their family members?” Khalil wondered. “I don’t know what kind of souls these people have, but I’m guessing they don’t.”
Police are still looking for the trio of motorists involved in the fatal hit-and-run crash.