Police Seek Witness in Case of Man Hit, Killed on Freeway : Accidents: Several cars ran over the body. Police say no one is responsible.

An El Cajon man was struck and killed by a vehicle on the Golden State Freeway just north of Santa Clarita and then hit by a number of other vehicles whose drivers sped away, the California Highway Patrol said Wednesday.

The CHP would like to interview witnesses to the incident, but does not regard any of the motorists as responsible for the man’s death because he was in traffic lanes at night wearing dark clothing, Officer Doug Villars said.

Some motorists may, however, have driven off after hitting the body because they thought they were responsible, Villars said.

“Somebody could have very well struck him thinking they were at fault when they are not,” Villars said.

The body of Robert Kinzer, 40, an unemployed plumber, was discovered in the southbound lanes of the freeway, north of Hasley Canyon Road in the early morning hours of Oct. 31, Villars said. Kinzer had been let out on the shoulder of the freeway after an argument with an acquaintance in a car.

Based on the condition of the body, “he had been struck a lot of times . . . it could have been two or it could have been 10,” Villars said. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office attributed Kinzer’s death to multiple traumatic injuries, a spokesman said.

Villars said it appears that Kinzer was fatally struck by one vehicle and then subsequently by other motorists, who left the scene.

But the CHP regards the death as an accident, he said, even in the case of whichever car actually did kill Kinzer. “If, as a pedestrian, he is standing in the road wearing dark clothing, then the motorist is not responsible for hitting him,” the officer said.

Kinzer was last seen alive Oct. 30 by a friend of his family who had gotten in a brawl with Kinzer on the northbound shoulder of the freeway, somewhere between Magic Mountain Parkway and Lake Hughes Road between midnight and 2 a.m., Villars said. The man told authorities that following the fight he left Kinzer on the shoulder of the freeway.

The man, whose identity was withheld pending a resolution to the case, was also from El Cajon, Villars said.

Four people--who did give their identities--stopped at call boxes along the freeway and reported seeing a body, but so far officers have been unable to contact any witnesses who saw Kinzer alive, Villars said. Kinzer had reportedly been drinking the night of his death, but the level of alcohol in his system was unknown pending the results of an autopsy, Villars said.

“What we need is someone who actually saw this guy alive in the general vicinity, whether it be on the shoulder, in the lanes or whatever the circumstances may be,” Villars said.

Villars is seeking witnesses who saw the fight on the shoulder of the road, or who may have helped the stranded man or who witnessed the fatal collision.

Kinzer is survived by his parents, Villars said. He also had recently proposed to a woman.

Villars said he wanted to solve the circumstances of Kinzer’s death to “give an answer to the family about what happened, as opposed to leaving it open-ended.”