Boy, 11, Killed Crossing Road; Hit-and-Run Suspect Jailed

Cord Evan Holz, an 11-year-old sports enthusiast whose family had moved away from El Prado Avenue in Garden Grove a few months ago, was back in his old neighborhood Friday to spend the night with a friend.

But as he crossed the street he used to live on, Cord was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver, according to police and family.

“That’s where they used to live. He was just going to spend the night with a friend he used to live next to,” said the boy’s maternal grandmother, Mary Howard of Stanton.

A witness to the accident relayed the car’s license plate number to police, and an hour later Nicholas Charles Geir, 34, was arrested as he returned to his Upland home, said Orange Police Sgt. Milt Galbraith.

Police said the boy was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred about 8:40 p.m. at the intersection of Lewis Street and El Prado Avenue. The intersection in Orange is less than a block east of El Prado Avenue in Garden Grove.

Orange police obtained the address of the suspect by checking the registration of the license plate, Galbraith said. Orange authorities immediately notified Upland police, who were waiting for Geir when he arrived at his home, he said.

Geir was booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, Galbraith said.

Investigators were examining the suspect’s 1979 Ford Mustang on Saturday, and no additional information about the accident was available, Galbraith said.

Cord, who still lived in Garden Grove, was “a very, very bright boy,” said his grandmother.

“He was into all kinds of sports,” including soccer, baseball and football, she said. “He won all kinds of trophies . . . and he was a great chess player,” she said. “We’re all so terribly upset.”