Michael Dejon Brown was 24 years old when he died on Sunday, August 16, 2015, in the Broadway-Manchester area of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at South Broadway and West 103rd Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department South Traffic Division case.
Unlike most of the deaths in this series, his was caused by a vehicle. Two days after he died, the LAPD issued a news release asking for the public's help in finding a hit-and-run driver. According to the release, "On Sunday, August 16, 2015, at about 12:50 a.m., a traffic collision occurred at the intersection of Broadway Avenue and 103rd Street. A pedestrian crossing westbound on 103rd Street was struck by a motorist traveling South on Broadway Avenue." The release identified the pedestrian as "Michael Dejon Brown, 24-years old, of Los Angeles," and said he "was transported to a local hospital where he later died of his injuries."
NBC Los Angeles reported that the collision was reported just before 1 a.m. "after a passerby found a man lying on the street," according to Lt. Charles Springer of the LAPD's South Traffic Division. "The driver of the vehicle fled the scene," the station reported. The LAPD said, "There is no description on the Hit and Run vehicle or suspect at this time." No further reports about the case appear to have been published.
Beyond those few lines, nothing about Michael Dejon Brown's life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found. His name is shared with Michael Brown, the Missouri teenager whose 2014 death drew national attention, and searches for his name are crowded with coverage of that case, which has nothing to do with his. He surely had family and friends who remember him, but none of that has entered the public record.
A coroner's finding of homicide in a traffic death usually reflects that another person's actions caused the death, and leaving the scene of a crash that kills someone is a serious felony in California. Whoever was behind the wheel that night drove away and left a young man lying in the street.
Broadway-Manchester is a neighborhood of South Los Angeles, built around the intersection of Broadway and Manchester Avenue. It is a working-class area of single-family homes, small apartment buildings and storefronts along its main streets. Broadway is one of the long north-south corridors that run through South Los Angeles, and late at night traffic on it can move fast.
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 Dejon Brown could be found in news archives or public records. More than ten years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near Broadway and 103rd Street in the early morning hours of August 16, 2015, or who knows of a vehicle that was damaged or repaired around that time, may hold information that could help investigators. The LAPD asked anyone with information to contact the South Traffic Detective Section at 323-421-2500. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. 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.
