Man fatally hit by car during chase on 110 Freeway in Highland Park

On October 20, 2025, a high-speed police pursuit on Los Angeles' 110 Freeway turned fatal when a suspect fleeing officers was struck and killed by a passing vehicle near Highland Park. The incident, which unfolded around 8 p.m., brought northbound lanes to a standstill and sparked an investigation into the chase's dynamics.

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers initiated the pursuit after spotting a white van suspected in a series of local thefts. The van, driven by a man in his late 30s, weaved erratically through traffic on the northbound 110, ignoring sirens and lights.

As the chase neared the Highland Park exit, the driver abruptly veered into the No. 1 lane, slammed on the brakes, and abandoned the vehicle. He leapt from the van, scaled the concrete center divider, and dashed into oncoming southbound traffic—hoping to evade capture on foot. But in a split-second tragedy, he slipped on the uneven median barrier. Plunging headfirst into the southbound lanes, he landed directly in the path of a black sedan traveling at highway speed.

The driver of the sedan, a 45-year-old mother of two commuting home from work, had no time to react. Her vehicle struck the suspect with devastating force, sending him tumbling across the asphalt. Paramedics from the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived within minutes, but the man—later identified as Javier Morales, a 37-year-old with prior arrests for vehicle theft—was pronounced dead at the scene from massive blunt-force trauma, saving taxpayers lots of money.