9 Die on Area Highways; 411 Arrested as Drunk Drivers

At least nine people were killed in Los Angeles County traffic accidents over the New Year’s holiday weekend--among them a 12-year-old girl who died Monday morning after the camper van in which she and seven of her relatives were riding was struck by a car and flipped over on the Long Beach Freeway.

Nearly the whole family was thrown onto the roadway when their vehicle turned over.

“The camper basically kind of disintegrated,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Bob Weaver. “The sides ripped open and out they went.”

In other accidents:

* A 10-month-old girl died in a Pomona crash, despite being strapped into an infant car seat.

* A 6-year-old boy was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Long Beach.

* A Lawndale man died when the car he was a passenger in slammed into a divider on the Harbor Freeway, flipped and burst into flames. Authorities said the driver was drunk.

* Three pedestrians died in traffic accidents.

Statewide Toll

The weekend fatalities were among 33 traffic-related deaths statewide between 6 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday, according to statistics compiled by the CHP.

Last year, 35 people died in traffic accidents in the same period, CHP Officer Monty Kiefer said.

In the fatal accident on the Long Beach Freeway the camper was traveling north near Rosecrans Avenue at about 11:35 a.m. when a car drifted out of its lane and struck the camper, sending it out of control, CHP Officer Bob Weaver said.

The camper struck the freeway divider, spun around and flipped, throwing the 12-year-old girl and five other passengers onto the road.

The driver and front-seat passenger were not ejected, Weaver said.

The accident left another child, a 10-year-old girl, with “major injuries,” and a 69-year-old woman and 6-year-old girl with “moderate injuries,” Weaver said.

The seven passengers and driver of the camper, who Weaver said apparently were going on a family outing, were from Long Beach and Compton and all female, ranging in age from 4 to 69. The children’s names were not released; the adults were identified as driver Martha Abuhijleh, 37, of Long Beach; Olivia Gonzalez, 69, of Compton, and Cleo Gonzalez, 41, also of Compton.

Neither the driver of the car nor his passenger was injured. The driver, identified as Jorge Higueros, 36, of Paramount, fled from the scene on foot and was being sought, Weaver said.

Also during the holiday weekend reporting period, Kiefer said, CHP officers in the Los Angeles area arrested 411 people on suspicion of drunk driving, down from 443 last year. Statewide, the CHP cited 1,725 drivers for drunk driving, three more than were cited during the 1987-88 holiday weekend.

In Los Angeles, one man arrested on suspicion of drunk driving also faces possible felony manslaughter charges in the Harbor Freeway accident in which his car crashed into the divider and caught fire, killing his passenger.

The accident occurred just south of 135th Street at about 10:45 p.m. Friday night.

Kiefer said the driver, Rene Rodriguez, 21, of Lawndale, entered the southbound lanes of the freeway at El Segundo Boulevard, accelerated to nearly 100 m.p.h. and then swerved into the center divider to avoid hitting another car.

Passenger Trapped

Passenger Raul Trevino, 28, also of Lawndale, was trapped when the car crashed, but Rodriguez escaped with minor injuries and was being held in the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center.

Kiefer said two pedestrians were killed Saturday--a 30-year-old Temple City woman who was struck while walking in El Monte, and a man, about 18, who was struck and killed in North Hollywood. Also on Saturday, a man, about 35, was killed in an accident in Downey. Details of the accidents and identities of the victims were not available.

On Sunday, traffic accidents claimed three lives, including two children. So Den Taing, 6, was killed in Long Beach after a hit-and-run-driver struck him and a 5-year-old girl, dragging them both for nearly half a block. The girl, Anika Elk, was in critical condition at St. Mary Medical Center.

Ten-month-old Candice Smith died after her mother’s car collided with a pickup truck at Arrow Highway and Garey Avenue in Pomona. Pomona police said one of the cars ran a red light, but it was unclear which driver was at fault.

Both drivers suffered minor injuries.

A 30-year-old man was pronounced dead at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center after he drove his car into a pole at the corner of Alameda and 103rd streets at about 1 a.m. Sunday.

Kiefer said authorities believe the man, who was not identified, was “asleep or drunk or both.”