The granddaughter of a man who died from injuries he sustained in a hit-and-run crash last month issued a plea for help from anyone who might have witnessed the Santa Clarita Valley collision on the northbound side of Interstate 5, south of the Highway 14 junction.
Erika Dinsmore said her grandfather, Lewis Earl Fisher, 93, of Arleta, was heading to his favorite weekend getaway spot, Las Vegas, at 5:05 a.m. March 31, when another driver committed an unsafe lane change.
The other car, which isn’t identified in the California Highway Patrol’s investigation of the crash, sideswiped Fisher’s 2005 white Toyota Camry, according to the agency’s report of the incident.
The resulting collision pushed Fisher’s car toward a 10-foot-wide concrete median, where he ultimately crashed, sustaining major injuries.
He died from those injuries April 13 at Olive View Medical Center.
Now Dinsmore, who grew up in Valencia and has since moved out of the area, is hoping someone who saw something will say something, she said, also sharing the information from the crash and a picture of her grandfather.
“He survived fighting in multiple wars, polio, tuberculosis and COVID, only to be taken by a coward that left after hitting him,” she wrote on a Facebook post she shared Wednesday.
Dinsmore shared with The Signal the record of the honorable discharge for Fisher, who earned medals for his Army service in Japan as a 16-year-old at the end of World War II and then re-enlisted to serve in the Korean War. The documents show the veteran lied as a teenager and said he was six months older than he actually was so he could serve sooner.
Her delay in reaching out was caused in part by her grief in dealing with the loss, she noted in the post.
Now, CHP officers say they need a little more help from the public in order to move their investigation forward.
The report from Officer Lucas Penaloza notes that a good Samaritan helped Fisher immediately after the crash, but the witness wasn’t able to positively identify the vehicle that collided with the Camry in the initial report.
CHP officers hope anyone who might have been in the area at the time and had footage or might have seen something while passing by can step up and let them know what they saw.
“If anybody has any information on this crash or dash camera video, please call the California Highway Patrol’s Newhall-area office at 661-600-1600,” said CHP Officer Josh Greengard, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol’s Newhall office.
A service for Fisher is scheduled for 3 p.m. May 9 at Eternal Valley Memorial Park. More information is available at dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/newhall-ca/lewis-fisher-11257191.
