Man dies as pedestrians attack him after his truck nearly runs people over on sidewalk
Incident occured after man was asked to leave bar for ‘being a nuisance’
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A man has died after being dragged from his truck and beaten, after almost mowing down pedestrians on a California sidewalk in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The LA truck driver, Melguin Lopez Santos, allegedly tried to run over several people who were standing outside a sports bar before crashing into a tree and a building.
A group then pulled him from the truck and a fight broke out. Mr Santos was later pronounced dead at the scene from “blunt force trauma,” said authorities.
Police said they have four possible suspects in the case but so far no arrests have been made. Mr Santos’ widow Monica Perez has appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
“We’re hurting, we’re hurting here,’ she tearfully told NBC LA, adding: “It’s unfair, I just feel like someone knows something.”
Mr Santos was asked to leave Rock It Sports Lounge and Grill on Hawthorne Boulevard in Los Angeles county for “being a nuisance” after an altercation inside the bar. He allegedly climbed into his truck and accelerated onto the sidewalk, narrowly missing several people who were standing there before losing control of the vehicle and slamming into a tree and a building.
“Hawthorne Police officers saw the driver lying on the ground, suffering what appeared to be blunt force trauma,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in its statement. “Paramedics provided life-saving measures, but [Mr Santos] was pronounced deceased on scene.”
While the incident was captured on surveillance cameras, the footage is grainy and the incident occurred behind the truck, which was partially out of view.
Lt Hugo Reynaga, an official from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, told Daily Breeze. “You could see there was a fight going on, but you couldn’t tell who was doing what.”
The investigators are now waiting for an autopsy report from the coroner’s office as they suspect that the man might have medical issues that led to his death during the fight, Lt Reynaga said, adding that crashes “weren’t that impactful.”
Ms Perez launched a fundraiser on GoFundMe asking for financial support for her family, and describing Mr Santos as “an amazing father to my kids” who “did not deserve to be taken so soon.”