A woman on a skateboard was fatally hit by a car Thursday morning in a hit-and-run crash in Playa Del Rey, and a suspect was later arrested, authorities said.
Officers sent to the intersection of Pershing Drive and Manchester Avenue about 1:15 a.m. found the victim lying on the roadway, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Paramedics pronounced the 48-year-old woman dead at the scene, according to the LAPD. Her name was withheld, pending notification of her relatives.
The woman had walked out of a nearby business and was showing a friend her skateboard when she went into the street and was struck in the No. 2 lane of Pershing Drive by a vehicle traveling northbound, according to LAPD Capt. Brian Wendling.
The vehicle, which kept going, was described as a black Audi A5, police said.
"Officers conducted a follow-up, (and) the driver of the Audi was subsequently arrested and the Audi was impounded as evidence,'' an LAPD statement said. "The preliminary investigation has revealed this is an alcohol-drug- related traffic collision.''
The name of the driver arrested was not immediately released.
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Before the arrest, Wendling had appealed for the motorist to surrender.
"We used to call them traffic accidents for a reason and it doesn't become a crime at that point,'' Wendling said. "When you flee the scene like that, it becomes a felony crime. There's no reason to flee the scene.''
