Authorities Tuesday identified a man who was struck and killed by a California Highway Patrol cruiser after he got out of an Uber car and tried to cross the Ventura (101) Freeway in Encino following a reported dispute with a fellow passenger.
Danuka Silva, 30 of Northridge was struck about 3:40 a.m. Monday on the eastbound 101 Freeway, west of Balboa Boulevard, and died at the scene, according to the coroner’s office and the CHP. The sergeant driving the CHP patrol car was uninjured.
The Uber driver told reporters that Silva was a backseat passenger in the westbound Uber car and was exchanging punches with a front seat passenger, prompting the driver to briefly stop in the left lane near the center divider while calling 911 because the fighting passengers — who he had picked up in West Hollywood — were distracting his driving.
That’s when Silva got out of the stopped Uber and took off on foot, said CHP Officer Weston Haver of the West Valley Area CHP office.
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.”
Sad to say – I would not call an Uber or a Lyft. I prefer the old style taxi cab with all the crap it takes to drive. Uber and Lyft – two good ideas except the usual start up crap of putting the cart before the horse.