Police ID Victim in New Year's Death on PCH

Los Angeles police said Wednesday that charges are not pending against the driver or the last party that hosted a 23-year-old West Los Angeles man in the early morning hours of New Year's Day before he was struck and killed on Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades. The investigation is ongoing.

Officer Orlin Osborne of the West Traffic Division said Jeffrey Herle, 23, of West Los Angeles, was declared dead at the scene after being struck by a car at approximately 2:55 a.m. in the southbound lane of the PCH, just north of Temescal Canyon Road at the intersection of Tahiti Avenue.

Osborne said the driver of the vehicle, a 1999 Lexus ES300, stopped and was cooperative with investigators.

"The pedestrian was walking along the west shoulder and, somehow, stepped into the southbound lane on the PCH and was struck by a vehicle heading southbound," Osborne said. Herle's next of kin was notified between Tuesday and Wednesday.

He said paramedics were called as well as the Los Angeles fire and police departments. Public safety personnel were already in the immediate area on New Year's Eve investigating a two-vehicle accident near Temescal Canyon Road, Osborne added.

The driver presented a license to police, and Osborne said the department is still determining whether it was expired or not.

Osborne also said Herkle's whereabouts before the accident are under investigation.

"He was returning from some sort of party, and had a band on his wrist from a local restaurant," Osborne added. "We're not sure if he went to another location from whatever establishment he was at with friends."

As with any traffic fatality, LAPD West Traffic Division will complete its investigation and forward what it finds to the L.A. County district attorney's office.

Patch will provide more details as they become available.

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