Jose Pineda was 43 years old when he died on Saturday, June 14, 2008, two days after a fight at an apartment complex in East Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 1620 N. Normandie Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case, handled by the Northeast Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said he "died from blunt force trauma to the head at an area hospital about 6:20 p.m. Saturday, June 14." According to the LAPD, Pineda "was involved in a fight with a security guard at 1620 N. Normandie Ave., a residential complex east of Hollywood on Thursday, June 12."
Capt. Bill Murphy of the Northeast Division gave the Times an account of how it started. Pineda "was drinking beer when the security guard, Samuel McAllister, 58, told him to put it away." According to police, "Pineda pushed McAllister and the two men started to fight. McAllister punched Pineda, who fell to the ground and injured his head." He was taken to a hospital and died two days later.
That account leaves the most important legal questions unanswered. A coroner's finding of homicide means only that a death was caused by another person; it does not decide whether a crime was committed. No later news report could be found saying whether the guard was arrested, whether prosecutors reviewed the case, or whether the punch was treated as self-defense. The record also does not say whether Pineda lived at the complex or was visiting someone there.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jose Pineda has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. Jose Pineda is a very common name, shared by a well-known Los Angeles physician and many other men across the country, none of whom is the man who died in East Hollywood.
East Hollywood lies east of Hollywood proper and west of Silver Lake and Los Feliz. Normandie Avenue is one of the north-south streets that cross it, lined in this stretch with apartment buildings and older homes. The neighborhood has long been a dense, working-class area, home to families from many parts of the world. Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard cross the area a few blocks apart, and the large hospital campuses along Vermont Avenue are nearby.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved. A single fight that ended with one punch and a fall drew only a short entry, and no follow-up story.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Jose Pineda could be found in news archives or public records. More than 17 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Residents of the complex at 1620 N. Normandie Ave. in June 2008, or anyone who saw the fight on June 12, may know more about what happened and how the case was resolved. 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.
