(L.A.) Nikki Rash, 78, Died from a Hit-and-Run Accident

Case Number: 2025-00222

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 78-year-old White/Caucasian female.

The coroner’s office identified the woman as Nikki Rash.

Manner of Death: Accident

Cause of Death: Blunt-Force Trauma

RIP NIKKI RASH (September 22, 1946 – January 4, 2025)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Saturday at 1:45 p.m.

The decedent was driving in Long Beach on December 26, 2024, when her vehicle was hit at 4:45 p.m. by another.

She declined medical aid offered by first responders, but later took herself to a hospital for treatment. She would die from her injuries in the new year.

The hit-and-run driver was not arrested until January 2026. The following month, Mario Jesus Escobar Acosta, 59, was sentenced to two years in state prison for his criminal act. A resident of Woodland, he entered a no-contest plea to a felony count of hit-and-run causing death.