Los Angeles police are looking for the driver of a black Nissan 300 ZX who struck an 83-year-old man with a walker in a cross walk and kept driving. The man leaves behind six children, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Gordon Tokumatsu reports from Reseda for NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Aug. 26, 2013.
An 83-year-old great-grandfather using a walker to cross a street was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Reseda Monday morning, authorities said.
The crash happened shortly after 6 a.m. near White Oak Avenue and Valerio Street, said Sgt. Ed Waschak, with Los Angeles Police Department Valley Traffic Division, the agency handling the investigation.
Asghar Abbassi, 83, was walking eastbound across Valerio Street in a marked cross walk, Waschak said.
Two drivers traveling northbound stopped and let him cross. But a third driver – this one traveling southbound – flew through the crosswalk, slamming into Abbassi, who flew onto and off of the car before landing on the ground.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The car that struck the victim is described as a black Nissan 300 ZX, model year between 2000 and 2006. Witnesses were unable to get a license plate number, police said.
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The car likely has damage to the hood and front windshield, and to the back window, LAPD Detective Bill Bustos said.
Abbassi is survived by six adult children, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
His daughter said the 83-year-old was sharp -- a man who never let advancing age slow him down.
"He was someone that I wish everyone could be," Hegame Abbassi said.
She had a message for the driver whose car, witnesses said, did not produce tell-tale screeching of brakes at the point of impact:
"I wish he cannot sleep without thinking about what he did to my family," she said.
Investigators Monday morning visited businesses along Valerio Street in search for surveillance video of the wanted driver, Waschak said.
Anyone with information about the deadly crash is urged to call the Los Angeles Police Department at 1-877-LAPD-24-7.
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