One dead, two others seriously injured in hit-and-run accident in Chinatown

An 18-year-old man was killed and six others injured in a hit-and-run accident that occurred outside a Starbucks in the Chinatown neighborhood of Los Angeles, authorities said Saturday.

Emergency crews responded to the scene of a two-car collision at Broadway and Cesar Chavez Avenue shortly before 12:45 a.m., according to a bulletin from the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The rollover accident occurred when a car traveling west on Cesar Chavez collided with a vehicle traveling north on Broadway, according to Los Angeles Police Officer Kevin Terzes. The 18-year-old who was in the vehicle on Broadway was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, Terzes said.

Six other people were also taken to a hospital – two of them in critical condition, the other four with non-life-threatening injuries, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart. Two of the six were trapped in a vehicle and rescued by firefighters, she said.

Footage broadcast by KTLA-TV showed one of the two cars upside down on the sidewalk next to the Starbucks’ outdoor patio. The other car, driven by Cesar Chavez, was mangled on the curb.

Authorities responding to the accident lifted the upside-down car with a crane, as shown in a video broadcast by AKABC-TV.

Police spokesman Terzes said the driver of the first vehicle fled the scene and was not caught.