Media Pressure Brings Reward to Reality for Fatal Hit & Run

The same day USC student Adriana Bachan died near campus in a hit-and-run, a 56-year-old man also died in a similar incident across town. Agapito Gaspar Nicolas was hit by an alleged silver Volkswagen Jetta while in a marked crosswalk on Figueroa Street at Avenue 51 in Highland Park. He later died in the hospital

While Bachan's death took the media, police and city politicians by storm, Nicolas' barely went noticed. The LA Times yesterday took a deep look into the two cases and found that over 20 officers were assigned to Bachan--a lot of it due to tips from all the media coverage--and Nicolas' case got one. Four weeks after the incident, City Council approved a $50,000 reward to help encourage a tipster come forward, but Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had still yet to place his signature on it--its final approval to make it become real. In fact, it had sat in Villaraigosa's office for a week until last night, close to 24 hours after the LA Times article exposed went to print, when he finally took action.