A 13-year-old girl was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Brentwood on a Friday morning last month as she tried to board a school bus near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and North Cliffwood Avenue, according to news reports.

The girl, Harvard Westlake Middle School student Julia Siegler, was taken to UCLA Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead February 25, said authorities. Witnesses said she was hit by a black Mercedes-Benz or Toyota, and police said there may have been children in the Toyota.

Police said they are still searching for two drivers that may have been involved in the accident, and that the driver of one of the vehicles had spoken with the victim’s mother after the accident. Neither driver identified themselves.

The California legislature is set to review the penalties for hit and run accidents, and they are long overdue. To think that a person could leave the accident scene and have children in their car is tragic. We hope the driver is found and appropriately punished. Until more people are punished severely, the risk of fleeing will be "worth it" to some.

The intersection where the girl was fatally struck is surrounded by an affluent West L.A. neighborhood not far from the UCLA campus, and Sunset Boulevard itself runs from Santa Monica to Hollywood, often becoming tight and narrow in certain areas.