Compton Youth Pastor in Fatal Hit & Run
December 14, 2017
By Cora Jackson-Fossett
Contributing Writer
A hit-and-run accident took the life of the Rev. Arturo Da’Naire Frazier, a youth pastor at Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church in Compton.
According to the L.A. County Coroner, Frazier, 39, had just left church when a driver on Atlantic Avenue struck him on Dec. 11. Friends reported that Frazier was at the Southern California Annual Communion Service and had posted an inspiring video on Facebook “after hearing Bishop Kevin Willis Sr., speak at the services.”
The impact occurred around 8:38 p.m. underneath the 710 Freeway overpass. When emergency crews arrived, they found Frazier unresponsive and soon pronounced him dead.
Overwhelmed by the news, Frazier’s pastor, Bishop Richard D. Sanders, posted on Facebook, “God help me…my son…I can’t trace the sense in this tragedy, but I can trust the sovereignty of my God!”
In an email message, the Rev. Xavier Thompson, president of the Baptist Ministers Conference of L.A. and Southern California, said, “This sudden and tragic event shatters our sense of order and thrusts us into a world forever changed. In times such as this, let us always remember that the Sovereign Savior is looking for us to look at Him. Please keep Rev. Frazier's mother, sister and family in your prayers.”
A popular preacher in the Los Angeles area, Frazier was born and raised in Compton. In a Sept. 2006 L.A. Sentinel profile, he revealed that he received his call to ministry during his freshman year at Southern University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2003.
At Mount Pilgrim, Frazier directed the church’s Save Our Youth Today and Tomorrow program. He also worked as a liaison for then-Councilman Isadore Hall III, a project manager for Los Angeles Urban League, and a field representative for District 62 of the California State Assembly.
Funeral arrangements were pending at press time.