CHP Patrol Car Hits And Kills Man Running Across 101 Freeway

ENCINO, CA - A man is dead today after he was struck by a California Highway Patrol car while trying to run across the Ventura (101) Freeway during an altercation in an Uber, according to the CHP.

The fatality happened early Monday morning at 3:40 a.m. on the eastbound Ventura Freeway west of Balboa Boulevard, California Highway Patrol Officer Tony Polizzi said. The crash triggered a Sigalert closing all eastbound lanes at White Oak Avenue, and the man was pronounced dead at the scene, Polizzi said.

The California Highway Patrol sergeant who struck the man was responding to a 911 call from the Uber driver, who reported two passengers fighting.

According to reports from the scene, the fatally injured man was a backseat passenger in a westbound Uber car and was fighting with a front seat passenger, prompting the driver to briefly stop in the left lane near the center divider while calling 911.

Meanwhile, CHP officers alerted by the 911 call were working to conduct a traffic break on the westbound side of the freeway and a CHP vehicle was heading to the scene to assist from the eastbound side of the freeway.
"One of the Uber passengers jumped the concrete center divider wall -- which they initially started on the westbound side -- jumped the wall and (was) now on the eastbound side of the 101 and collided with the (eastbound) patrol vehicle," Haver said. "The passenger was ... running across traffic lanes (and) the patrol vehicle collided with that passenger."

The Uber driver said he did not know that the passenger had gotten out of his vehicle, and he also told reporters he thought the man had been hit by more than one vehicle. The CHP was trying to determine if any other drivers had struck the pedestrian and asked anyone with information to contact investigators.

An Uber representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

All eastbound freeway lanes were closed until about 9:30 a.m.

No officers were injured in the wreck, and no further details were released Monday.

City News Service and Patch staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.