Los Angeles, California: Woman, 32, Killed by LAPD Cruiser Responding to a Call in Van Nuys

A Los Angeles police cruiser responding to an emergency call struck and killed a pedestrian in Van Nuys late on Saturday night, in a crash that left a woman dead in a crosswalk on Woodman Avenue while much of the San Fernando Valley was still marking Halloween.

The crash happened at about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 31, in the 6100 block of Woodman Avenue, near Bessemer Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. In its first report on Sunday, the department did not give her name, age or gender. In an updated report on Sunday afternoon, police said the pedestrian was a woman who was believed to be 32 years old. Her name has not been released.

What police have said

Police said the woman was in a crosswalk when she was struck by a police unit from the LAPD North Hollywood Division. A witness reported hearing a thud and then seeing the victim down in the street. The reports published on Sunday did not describe any other injuries, and they did not say whether the officer driving the cruiser was hurt.

It was raining in parts of Los Angeles on Saturday night, and police said it was unclear whether the wet conditions played a role in the collision. The department has not said how fast the cruiser was traveling, whether its emergency lights or siren were on, or what investigators have found so far in the street where the woman was hit.

The call the cruiser was answering

A department spokeswoman said details about the emergency call were not immediately available on Sunday. Multiple local outlets reported that the cruiser was heading to a rowdy Halloween party in Sherman Oaks, and ABC7 reported that the officer was responding to an emergency backup call at that party when the pedestrian was struck. Sherman Oaks sits just south of Van Nuys, along the same stretch of the Valley the North Hollywood Division patrols.

That part of the account matters to the questions that follow a crash like this one. Los Angeles residents will want to know why the call was urgent, how the cruiser was being driven on the way to it, and whether the woman in the crosswalk could be seen in time on a wet street late at night. On Sunday, police had answered none of those questions in public.

What is not known yet

Police have not released the woman's name, and they have not said where she lived. They have not said whether any camera on Woodman Avenue or on a nearby building recorded the crash. They also have not said which unit will lead the investigation or when its first findings will be made public.

Woodman Avenue is a wide north and south street lined with apartment buildings, small shops and bus stops, and it carries traffic through Van Nuys at all hours. For the people who cross it on foot every day, the facts that are still missing are the ones that will decide how this death is understood: the speed of the cruiser, the state of the crosswalk lighting, and the seconds before the impact in the rain.