Bicyclist riding wrong way hit and killed in Venice

A bicyclist riding in the wrong direction on a Venice street died Thursday night after being hit by a car making a turn, authorities said.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was riding on South Venice Boulevard, a one-way road, just east of Speedway, said Sgt. Kara Nightingale of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Traffic Division. A driver making a left turn onto South Venice Boulevard from Speedway – traveling in the correct direction – hit her at around 5 p.m., Nightingale said.

The woman is believed to have fallen off her bike before she was hit, Nightingale said.

“Our understanding is he didn’t see her,” said Nightingale, who called the accident “tragic.”

The driver stopped and aided the woman. “No crime was committed,” the sergeant said.

The woman, a Venice resident, was 39 years old, Nightingale said. She said her name was being withheld until authorities could notify her family.

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