A reporter filming a piece about a fatal hit-and-run accident was startled when a similar instance happened just feet away from him as he spoke on camera in South Los Angeles.
Gene Kang and his crew were standing along Hoover and 84th streets when another crash happened nearby, KTLA reported Friday.
“You see Hoover Street here. Officials say it’s one of the most dangerous streets in all of Los Angeles, and now…” he said as the new accident unfolded dangerously close to where the crew had set up:
Two cars collided in the background and one spun around as the other stopped in the middle of the roadway.
However, the vehicle that spun around appeared to drive up on the sidewalk, then speed away from the scene in the opposite direction.
“Our security guard Walter Mann yelled ‘get back’ and we moved as the car came racing towards us. It veered away at the last second and T-boned the car,” Kang recalled of the incident.
Social media users commented on Kang’s video, one person writing, “This is nuts! Glad you and your photographer are safe!”
“Nothing better than visual presentation. Maybe now the city will do something,” another commented.
Officers suspected the driver who fled had recently been involved in a crime, and they picked up a license plate that was left at the scene.
No one in the car that stopped in the middle of the street appeared to have been hurt, according to KTLA.
In August, during a rise in fatal traffic collisions, citizens said they wanted to make the area a safer place to be, ABC 7 reported at the time.
“Community activists say over the last year, traffic deaths have skyrocketed, especially in South L.A., which has seen a 46% increase. The vast majority of those crashes are hit-and-runs,” the outlet noted.
Kang was reporting on a hit-and-run that killed a father who was crossing the street with his family in late February.
“That driver still hasn’t been found. A reward of up to $50,000 is available to community members who provide information leading to the driver’s identification, arrest and conviction,” the KTLA article said.