In the South Park East district of Los Angeles, Onesimo Maldonado Flores was eighty years old when he was murdered by a hit-and-run vehicle while crossing a designated crosswalk. The crash happened on April 1, 2026, at around 7:35 p.m. near the junction of Avalon Boulevard and East 49th Street, which is a busy foot traffic area east of the Harbor (110) Freeway.
Flores had been walking legally through the crosswalk on the north side of East 49th Street when a vehicle traveling northbound on Avalon Boulevard hit him. The driver did not stop. Witnesses described the vehicle as a dark-colored sedan moving at normal speed, but even moderate speeds can be fatal when a pedestrian is struck directly. The intersection has adequate street lighting, according to CBS News, suggesting the driver should have seen Flores in the crosswalk.
Paramedics arrived quickly and transported Flores to a nearby hospital, but the trauma was too severe. He died from his injuries. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office formally identified him two days later.
LAPD’s Central Traffic Division responded immediately. Investigators documented the scene, examined crosswalk markings and lighting, and canvassed nearby businesses and residences for surveillance footage. The intersection is surrounded by storefronts and multi-unit housing, many of which have exterior cameras.
The driver’s failure to stop elevated the case to a felony hit-and-run investigation. Flores had been crossing legally. He had the right of way. And someone behind the wheel of a dark sedan left him to die in the street.
The South Park East neighborhood, where many residents rely on walking as their primary mode of transportation, has been shaken by the tragedy. Community members are calling for increased enforcement and better pedestrian safety measures at the intersection of Avalon Boulevard and East 49th Street. For Flores’s family, the grief is compounded by the knowledge that the driver fled, that no one stopped, that justice has not yet come.
Onesimo Maldonado Flores was 80 years old. He was a resident of Los Angeles, a pedestrian using a crosswalk in his own neighborhood, a man who deserved to cross the street safely and go home. Instead, he was struck by a driver who kept going. LAPD continues to search for the suspect, urging anyone with information to contact Central Traffic Division.