The California driver who was allegedly beaten to death after trying to mow down people outside a bar he was booted from has been identified by his family as a father of four.
The new details emerged as authorities continued to investigate the deadly confrontation involving 40-year-old Melguin Lopez Santos outside the Rock It Sports Lounge in Hawthorne just after midnight Saturday.
Santos had earlier been asked to leave the bar after getting into a verbal altercation, the LA sheriff’s department said.
He then allegedly returned in his truck, mounted the sidewalk and nearly struck several people standing outside the bar.
Authorities said the driver lost control of his truck and hit a tree.
A group of men tried to take Santos out of his truck but he was “able to accelerate and drove his truck into a nearby building,” the sheriff’s office said.
After the second collision, the men yanked Santos from his truck and allegedly started beating him on the sidewalk.
When police arrived, they said they found Santos on the ground suffering from “blunt force trauma.”
He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Santos’ widow, Monica Perez, revealed he leaves behind four children, according to a GoFundMe she set up.
In an interview with NBC LA, Perez called on any witnesses to come forward, saying “We’re hurting, we’re hurting here.”
She added, “It’s unfair. I just feel like someone knows something. Somebody is hiding something.”
Authorities have not revealed the identity of the people accused in the beatdown and no arrests have been announced.
An autopsy is being carried out to confirm an official cause of death.
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