2 Hospitalized as Hit-Run Driver Strikes Van

When Cheryl Smith and her elderly mother pulled out of the driveway in Smith’s Volkswagen van Monday morning, they were heading for a 10 a.m. doctor’s appointment. They didn’t make it around the corner.

Just 300 yards from their apartment, Anaheim police said, Smith’s van was broadsided by a white 1977 Cadillac, whose driver had run a red light.

The van rolled over as the Cadillac sped away, police said, describing the ninth hit-and-run collision in Orange County since Aug. 1.

Cheryl Smith, a 29-year-old commercial photographer, suffered head injuries and was reported in stable condition Monday night at Anaheim Memorial Hospital. Her mother, 67-year-old Marilyn Smith, suffered head, chest and pelvic injuries and was under observation in the intensive care unit of Western Medical Center in Anaheim, authorities said. She was in stable condition.

Anaheim Police Officer Greg Mattis, who is investigating the collision, said the Cadillac was traveling about 35 m.p.h. when it struck the van at 9:27 a.m. at the intersection of East Street and Broadway.

The van rolled over and landed on its side, Mattis said. The Cadillac was seen fleeing west on Broadway and then north on Anaheim Boulevard. A short time later, Mattis said, the Anaheim police helicopter spotted the Cadillac “dumped” behind a building at 508 N. Anaheim Blvd., but the driver and a passenger seen in the vehicle were gone.

An elderly woman recovering from brain surgery owned the Cadillac. She told police her nephew borrowed it Monday morning, Mattis said, adding that she reported to officers that her nephew claimed he loaned the car to a friend. Police are seeking the driver of the Cadillac.

Marilyn Smith had been an apartment house manager until recently, when she was stricken with heart problems, her landlord said. Cheryl Smith, her youngest daughter, helped look after her at the apartment they rented together last April, said Alice Mcintyre, the co-manager of their 16-unit Anaheim complex.

“They live right across the way from us,” Mcintyre said. “They have an old bulldog type of dog named Wimpy. (Cheryl) lives with her mother and basically does everything and anything for her. . . . She’s very devoted to her.”

The collision was the latest in a rash of hit-and-run cases since August. The most recent before Monday’s occurred last Tuesday in Santa Ana and claimed the life of Irene Souter, a 45-year-old housewife and mother of two teen-age sons. One, Stephen, 16, suffered a broken leg and other injuries in the crash, which occurred when the Souter vehicle was rear-ended less than a mile from their Santa Ana home.

Stephen Souter has been released from the hospital. Funeral services for his mother were held Monday.