Boy, 15, Dies Day After Collapsing on Sidewalk

A 15-year-old North Hollywood boy died Friday, a day after collapsing on a sidewalk. Police believe he may have been the victim of an attack.

Detectives said witnesses saw Peter Ray running on Colfax Avenue just north of Burbank Boulevard about 3 p.m. Thursday when the boy suddenly collapsed. He never regained consciousness and died at 11:30 a.m. Friday, authorities said.

An autopsy is scheduled today, Detective Mike Coffey said.

Police found a tire iron on the ground near the area from which Ray was seen running, but there were no marks on his body, Coffey said. An examination at the hospital did not determine what caused the boy to collapse, he said.

“We are investigating it like it is an undetermined death caused by an assault,” Coffey said.

Investigators were looking for other witnesses who might have seen the boy at some point before he was seen running on Colfax.

Before Ray collapsed Thursday, he left John H. Francis Polytechnic High School and visited his mother, who works at the May Co. department store on Oxnard Street, Coffey said.

“He had no medical or drug problems,” Coffee said. “He was just a young school kid, and something happened.”