City Council Extends Reward to Find Studio City Hit-and-Run Suspect

The Los Angeles City Council today extended for six months a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a hit-and-run driver responsible for the death of a 35-year-old man in Studio City last summer.

Michael Bonanomi, a web designer and musician, was struck Aug. 17 at 11:42 p.m. while crossing Ventura Boulevard near Fairway Avenue. He died at the scene.

The car that hit Bonanomi was described as a white, two-door 2008 to 2010 Mercedes Benz CL that was going east on Ventura Boulevard.

The car had "dark wheel rims and black paper plates with the word Encino written in yellow" and should have sustained "major front end damage and a shattered windshield," according to the reward motion.

Bonanomi's mother appealed to the City Council last year to approve the initial reward offer.

"He was a loving son and made it his mission to bring us joy -- and he brought us more joy than you could ever imagine," Eve Bonanomi said.

Councilman Paul Krekorian, who introduced the reward motion, said "tragic accidents happen all the time ... but those tragic accidents become a crime when people leave the scene."

Anyone with information on the case was asked to call the LAPD's Valley Traffic Division at (818) 644-8021 or (818) 644-8037.

--City News Service