Pedestrians

A lawyer for a Swedish hip-hop artist accused of murdering a pedestrian in a sensational act of road rage invoked the movie "Crash" on Friday in asking for a reduction in the performer's $1-million bail. In court papers, David Jassy's attorney wrote that the fatal encounter in a Hollywood crosswalk was a prime example of the Academy Award-winning film's "thesis . . . that random interactions of diverse people in a city as frenetic as Los Angeles can lead to disastrous consequences."

The roar of cars and trucks drowned out conversation Saturday morning as a group walked toward the 210 Freeway ramp on North Lake Avenue in Pasadena. The sidewalk narrowed and the street widened. Along the way, tree roots had heaved the sidewalk upward. It was hardly a welcoming route to the Gold Line light rail station, built in the median of the 210, said Marsha Rood, a Pasadena resident.

One person was killed and three injured when an SUV plowed into a crowd on a Venice sidewalk Sunday afternoon in front of St. Mark Catholic Church. The driver, who had just attended Mass, told witnesses and police that she accidentally stepped on the accelerator when her daughter, a passenger, suffered a seizure. Witnesses described a scene of pandemonium as the silver Nissan drove up onto a sidewalk filled with churchgoers, pinning a man against a flower bed and striking several women.

Federal officials recently issued a report on pedestrian deaths across the United States between 1997 and 2006. Here's a sampling of what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found: * Pedestrians had only a slightly higher chance of dying in a car crash than people in a vehicle had. For every 100 million miles that people walked, 1.42 pedestrians were killed, whereas for every 100 million miles that people drove, 1.3 vehicle occupants were killed.

A band of walkers gathered Saturday at Pasadena Presbyterian Church with a mission: Give pedestrians in this city their rightful place on the sidewalk. Reduce auto vs. pedestrian conflicts. Add some more shade trees. "Make it enjoyable to walk," said Nancy Nelson, a Pasadena resident. Nelson was one of about 40 people who came to hear the conclusions from the city's first "walkabout," which was held on a foggy morning in March.

After midnight Sunday, John Osnes, a pianist who performed jazz standards and Beatles songs at piano bars in Hollywood, put an empty glass down on the counter of one of his favorite haunts, The Spotlight, and waved goodbye to an employee. "He said, 'Benji, I will see you tomorrow for sure,' " bartender Benjamin Avery recalled. An hour later, Osnes, 55, lay dying in a crosswalk a few blocks away, the victim, police say, of a violent road rage attack by a Swedish hip-hop artist.

A 52-year-old pedestrian was hit by a car and killed Saturday night, according to the California Highway Patrol and the Orange County coroner. The man was crossing Beach Boulevard near Rockwell Avenue about 9 p.m. when he was hit by a woman driving south on Beach, who immediately stopped and sought help, according to the CHP. The Midway City man's identity was not released until his next of kin could be notified. Additional information was unavailable Sunday.

A homeless man pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony hit-and-run charges for driving off after striking and critically injuring two joggers last year in Dana Point. William Todd Bradshaw, 38, could face up to four years in prison when he is sentenced later this month in the collision that left Carol Daniel and Stacy Neria with permanent disabling injuries.

A judge on Friday sentenced a homeless man to four years in prison for fleeing the scene of a collision that left two women permanently disabled, issuing the maximum punishment despite pleas for leniency from the victims. Carol Daniel and Stacy Neria of San Clemente, through their attorney, said they forgave William Todd Bradshaw for the April 8 accident and noted that his decision to leave the scene afterward had no bearing on "the nature and extent of our injuries."

CITY planners shun them. New urbanists hate them. Boulder, Colo., all but banned them. Cul-de-sacs -- those once-beloved icons of the suburban good life -- have become something of a demonized concept. The growing consensus among urban planners is that these lollipop-shaped streets hurt communities by chopping up neighborhoods, isolating children, intensifying traffic woes and discouraging walking. Then why are so many still being built here?