MAN KILLED IN HIT-RUN INCIDENT OFFICIALS SEARCH FOR DRIVER WHO FLED.

Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer

LAKE LOS ANGELES -- Authorities searched Monday for a hit-and-run driver whose vehicle hit and killed a man standing near his disabled car on a two-lane road.

The 38-year-old Ontario man was killed about 5:30 a.m. Monday when he stepped into the westbound lane of Avenue P west of Old Mirage Road, which is a route used by commuters traveling between the Antelope and Victor valleys, California Highway Patrol officers said.

The vehicle that hit him drove off west on Avenue P, officials said. From the extent of the man's injuries, it's possible he was hit by more than one vehicle, officers said.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, was standing within a few feet of his car when he was hit but officers don't know if he was trying to flag down help or had stepped into the road for another reason.

The man's 1988 Buick LeSabre apparently had engine trouble, officers said. The man drove away from the home where he was staying between midnight and 4 a.m., but the people he lived with didn't know why he would be in the Antelope Valley, CHP officials said.

CHP officers and sheriff's deputies were looking Monday for a vehicle with damage to the right side of its front end but they didn't have a description.

A number of passing motorists telephoned to report that a person had been hit by a vehicle, but as of Monday afternoon CHP officers hadn't found anyone who saw the vehicle that hit him.

Monday's death was the second hit-and-run incident to injure a pedestrian in the Lake Los Angeles area in less than three days.

A 14-year-old boy was struck and seriously injured about 7 p.m. Friday while walking beside Avenue N-8 east of 172nd Street East.

The boy, whose name was not released, was taken by helicopter to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. The boy was walking along the road's north shoulder when a vehicle veered into him and drove off, CHP officials said.

Witnesses described the vehicle that hit the boy as a red sport utility vehicle, possibly a Chevrolet Suburban, officials said. Anyone with information on either hit-and-run case was asked to call the Lancaster CHP office at [phone].