Michael John Rush was 62 years old when he died on Tuesday, August 9, 2016, in Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma near Hollywood Boulevard and North La Brea Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department West Bureau Homicide case.
He was hurt four days before he died. At about 1:30 a.m. on Friday, August 5, 2016, officers were flagged down by people who saw Rush hitting cars with a metal flashlight, LAPD Det. Luis Carranza told the Los Angeles Times. According to police, Rush struck a black BMW SUV with the flashlight, and two men got out of the vehicle and punched him. Rush fell and hit his head on the ground. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead at 4:24 p.m. on August 9, according to coroner's records. The coroner's office ruled the death a homicide.
Police said they wanted to speak with additional witnesses and believed that more vehicles were in the area at the time. The two men who got out of the SUV were not publicly identified, and no later report says whether they were ever found or questioned. The account does not explain why Rush was striking cars that night, and nothing in the public record says whether he had been drinking, was in some kind of crisis or was in a dispute with anyone. Whatever led to the confrontation, a punch that knocks a man to the pavement can kill, and the coroner found that his death came at the hands of others.
Almost nothing else about Michael John Rush has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and the many other people named Michael Rush who appear in online records, from artists and curators to men in other states and countries, could not be tied to the man who died in Hollywood. He surely had family and friends who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
The corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue sits at the western end of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one of the most visited stretches of street in Los Angeles. Even at 1:30 in the morning the area is seldom empty, with drivers heading to and from the clubs and bars of Hollywood, tourists and people who live on the surrounding streets. That makes it likely that more people saw the confrontation than ever came forward.
By the mid-2010s Los Angeles was recording roughly 250 to 300 homicides a year, among the lowest totals in decades, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Michael John Rush could be found in news archives or public records. More than nine years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in the early morning of August 5, 2016, or who saw a black BMW SUV stopped there, may hold information that could help investigators. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. At the time, police asked anyone with information to call LAPD Lt. John Radtke at 382-9470. Anyone with information can call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
