Nocturnal argument escalates
Fatal vigilante justice – crowd beats drivers to death in Los Angeles
Rescue workers in Los Angeles could no longer help the 40-year-old man. He died on the spot (symbol picture)
© Dylan Stewart / Picture Alliance
In Los Angeles, the police are investigating a possible case of particularly brutal vigilante justice: Several people are said to have beaten to death a driver. He is said to have tried to run over her beforehand.
The result of the autopsy is pending, but from what is known so far, the Los Angeles police force is currently dealing with a fatal vigilante case. At the weekend, in the middle of the night, a dispute in a bar in the Californian metropolis escalated to such an extent that a lot of angry people beat a driver to death – at least that is what the police suspect based on all previous knowledge.
According to reports from several local media outlets, the conflict began with a bar in the Hawthorne district, which is located a little south of the city center of the Californian metropolis. There should have been an argument in the bar. A man apparently involved was asked to leave the bar shortly after midnight on Saturday morning.
Man gets into his pick-up truck in Los Angeles and speeds towards a group of people
The man actually went out of the bar. But instead of leaving the place completely, he got into his pick-up truck and tried to drive into a group of people who were standing on the sidewalk in front of the bar. However, he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree. “Bystanders tried to get him out of the vehicle,” said a statement from the police. “But the driver managed to accelerate and hit a nearby building”.
Then the crowd would have tried a second time to pull the driver out of his pickup and this time they reportedly managed. There was a fight.
In the meantime the police have also arrived. According to reports, the officers were there minutes after being called. But they came too late – the man had already been seriously injured on the ground, according to the reconstruction of the nightly events. The rescue workers who have also been called in in the meantime could not have reanimated him, it said. He died on the spot. The cause of death was apparently blunt violence, concluded the police in an initial statement on the case.
The man is said to be a 40-year-old Los Angeles citizen. The police believe that four people were involved in the fatal beating attack on him, it said. However, no one could be arrested. Witnesses are still being sought who can say something about the events – apparently a case of fatal vigilante justice.
Why people got into an argument and whether the driver of the pickup truck was drunk or under the influence of drugs is not known, according to the reports.
Sources: NBC Los Angeles, “Los Angeles Times“
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