Seemingly perfect day at serene Los Angeles park hides disturbing reality

The body of homeless man was discovered in a lush Los Angeles park this week — but visitors appeared unbothered by the grisly find as they laid on the grass and pushed children in strollers near the crime scene.

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Park-goers appeared aloof to the corpse in plain sight Wednesday at the Westwood Recreation Center, where LAPD officers set up a perimeter and covered the body before the coroner arrived. 

“It was a beautiful day in Westwood and everyone seemed to be enjoying the park,” an eyewitness told the California Post.

Despite the dramatic discovery, bicyclists rode nearby, young couples set up blankets on grass, and the sound of children enjoying a nearby playground could be heard in the background.

“Everyone was just so unfazed with the horror going on next to them,” added the 40-year-old witness, who asked that his name not be used because his left-leaning friends are upset by his support of Spencer Pratt.

The LA resident said it’s not the first time he’s seen a dead homeless person in public — recalling another incident at Crescent Bay Park in Santa Monica in 2021.

“It was a strange sight to see. I guess it’s interesting seeing a dead body — but then people quickly got on with their usual business and it was like another day in the park,” the witness said.

“It’s kind of turned into a normal thing in Los Angeles now — people die of homelessness and it’s just business as usual.”

He added that corpses don’t turn up in nicer areas of Los Angeles, like Beverly Hills or Manhattan Beach “where laws are enforced.”

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“People are desensitized to it,” he said of Angelenos. “And that’s really sad, especially because this doesn’t happen in other cities.”

The witness added that an LAPD officer at the scene in Westwood told him that homeless deaths are no longer concentrated in downtown LA’s notorious Skid Row, as the problem has spread to other areas of the city.

“He didn’t seem to think the homeless problem could be solved,” he said. “He sounded burned out.”

The LAPD did not have additional information on the discovery or the circumstances surrounding the death. The LA County Coroner did not immediately return a request for comment.

The witness who spoke with police called himself a fervent supporter of Pratt and his hardline policies to bring an end to homelessness in the city.

He commented that the problem would remain if incumbent Mayor Karen Bass stays in power or her challenger, socialist-backed Nithya Raman, wins in November. 

“This is going to continue,” he warned.

In March, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released its annual report on mortality among people experiencing homelessness in LA County, which documented 2,208 homeless death on the streets in 2024.

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