Police on Monday were searching for drivers in three hit-and-run crashes that left three pedestrians dead throughout Los Angeles over the weekend.
The crashes occurred late Saturday and early Sunday, two along Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley and one in South Los Angeles.
Authorities identified the dead on Monday: Michael Spencer Bonanomi, 35, of Santa Monica; Djanoba Williams, 19, of South Los Angeles; and Ernesto Melendez, 23, of Van Nuys.
About 11:45 p.m. Saturday in Studio City, Bonanomi was crossing Ventura Boulevard at Fairway Avenue outside of crosswalks, according to a statement by the Los Angeles Police Department.
A white Mercedes Benz CLS bearing paper plates with yellow lettering struck him and carried him about 100 yards, police said. The car was traveling eastbound "at a very high rate of speed" along Ventura Boulevard, according to a police statement.
The vehicle would have major front-end damage, police said.
Bonanomi died at the scene.
About 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, Williams was crossing 102nd Street and Central Avenue in South Los Angeles when a dark-colored Ford Taurus fatally struck her and sped off, police said.
This is the second time Djanoba Williams' mother, Albertina, has had to deal with the loss of a child.
"I have one left. I have one son left, and he's 16, so now he doesn't have a brother or sister," Albertina said.
Djanoba's death has not yet sunk in for her aunt, Kim Williams.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
"She got accepted to college in Texas, but she wanted to stay here with the family. I'm kind of in disbelief," Kim said. "I feel like, had she went away, she wouldn't have been crossing the street."
The vehicle was believed to be involved in a street race along Central Avenue.
A witness who saw the crash said the teen's death was immediate.
"As soon as she got hit it was over with. It was like instant death. She had no time to cry out or holler," said Rodney, a witness who did not want to give NBC4 his last name.
In the third hit-and-run, which was about 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, a valet in Sherman Oaks was opening the door of a Ford Focus for Melendez when a car suddenly struck both of them and sped away without stopping.
Melendez was critically injured and later died at a hospital. The valet survived without any serious injury.
The driver's vehicle was described as a silver, newer-model Hyundai Tucson, which was traveling westbound on Ventura Boulevard west of Kester Avenue.
More Southern California Stories:
