A white Kia sedan tied to the crash was found abandoned in nearby Garden Grove, investigators said.
BUENA PARK, CA — Police in Buena Park are searching for the driver in a fatal hit-and-run after a pedestrian was struck at Beach Boulevard and Artesia Boulevard early Monday, and the suspected vehicle was later found abandoned in Garden Grove.
Officers were sent to the intersection at 1:53 a.m. after a report of a vehicle hitting a pedestrian, according to Buena Park police. The victim was taken to UCI Medical Center for treatment and was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Investigators say the case quickly widened beyond the crash scene when officers located a damaged white Kia sedan unoccupied on Valley View Street near Chapman Avenue, several miles away in Garden Grove. The car was seized as evidence, but as of Monday morning police said they had not identified the driver.
The investigation began before sunrise at one of Buena Park’s busier crossroads, where Beach Boulevard meets Artesia Boulevard in the city’s northwest area. Buena Park police said patrol officers first responded to the report of a vehicle-versus-pedestrian collision, then called in the department’s Traffic Bureau and its Serious Collision Investigation Detail. The injured pedestrian was rushed to UCI Medical Center in Orange, the county’s only Level I adult trauma center, but did not survive. By later Monday, police had released only a limited description of the suspected vehicle, saying it was a white Kia sedan. Officers said that car was found a short time after the collision on Valley View Street near Chapman Avenue in Garden Grove. Investigators said the Kia showed damage consistent with a collision and was taken as evidence. Police have not said how long the car had been at that location, whether it had been reported stolen, or whether forensic evidence inside it has helped narrow the search.
What police do know is laid out in a short but important timeline. The crash was reported at 1:53 a.m. Monday. The victim was taken from the scene to the hospital and was pronounced dead soon after arrival. At some point not long after that, officers located the suspected Kia abandoned in another city. The distance between the Buena Park intersection and the Garden Grove recovery site suggests the driver was able to leave the crash area and continue south before getting out of the car. Police have not released the victim’s name, age or hometown, and they have not said whether the person was in a crosswalk, on a sidewalk edge or in the roadway when struck. They also have not said whether speed, alcohol, drugs, darkness or signal timing may have played a role. Those unanswered questions are common in the first hours of a fatal traffic investigation, when officers are still collecting video, measuring the scene, tracing the car’s path and trying to identify everyone involved.
The location itself helps explain why investigators are treating the case with urgency. Beach Boulevard is a major Orange County route that runs about 21 miles through nine cities and carries heavy daily traffic. In Buena Park, city planning documents describe Beach Boulevard as a regional arterial with freeway connections to Interstate 5 and State Route 91, while Artesia Boulevard is another key east-west corridor that also links to Interstate 5. Older city traffic studies show Beach Boulevard and Artesia Boulevard handling tens of thousands of vehicles a day on nearby segments. That does not explain this crash, but it does show why investigators will likely review traffic camera footage, business surveillance video and witness accounts from drivers, pedestrians and late-night workers who may have been in the area. Police have not said whether any public cameras captured the collision or the Kia’s route after impact.
The legal stakes are serious if investigators identify and arrest the driver. Under California Vehicle Code Section 20001, a driver involved in a crash that causes injury or death must stop at the scene and meet other legal duties. The same section says a violation can be punished by jail or prison time and fines, with higher penalties if the crash results in death or permanent serious injury. No charges had been announced Monday because police had not publicly identified a suspect. That means the case remains in its evidence-gathering stage. Detectives in serious-collision cases typically work through witness interviews, video review, vehicle ownership records, cellphone records when available through legal process, and forensic testing of the recovered car. Buena Park police said the Traffic Bureau’s Serious Collision Investigation Detail has taken over the case, a sign that the investigation is moving from the initial response into a more formal reconstruction and suspect-identification phase.
For now, the public picture is defined as much by what is missing as by what has been confirmed. Police have not released any description of the driver, said whether more than one person may have been in the Kia, or explained whether officers have identified the registered owner. They also have not said whether investigators believe the driver abandoned the car because it could no longer be driven safely or because leaving it behind reduced the risk of being caught near the crash site. Buena Park police asked anyone who witnessed the collision or has additional information to contact the department’s Traffic Bureau, and the case has been assigned number 26-08349. Until someone is identified, the abandoned Kia stands as the clearest physical link between the deadly collision in Buena Park and the search now stretching into neighboring Garden Grove. The next major step will be whether investigators can connect that car to a specific driver and explain what happened in the moments before and after the pedestrian was struck.
As of Monday, the victim was dead, the suspected vehicle was in police custody, and the driver remained missing. The next milestone in the case is the identification of the victim and any suspect, along with possible updates from Buena Park police as the hit-and-run investigation continues.
Author note: Last updated March 9, 2026.