Manslaughter Charge Filed in Boy’s Hit-and-Run Death

The Orange County district attorney’s office Monday filed felony hit-and-run and manslaughter charges against a Santa Ana man in connection with the death of a 7-year-old Anaheim boy.

Police said Miguel Guerrero, 27, was driving a 1970 Chevrolet Nova from the scene of a brawl March 11 when he hit the boy, Victor Magana, in an alley near an apartment complex in the 1600 block of South Jeffrey Drive.

Police said Guerrero was arrested Friday and taken to Orange County Jail, where he is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail. Police did not release many details about the investigation or arrest, but said Guerrero was arrested without incident at his business in Santa Ana.

“Our investigation placed him behind the wheel of the car,” Anaheim Police Officer Clint Melberg said.

Police spent almost a week searching for leads in the case before they found the Nova--with license plate 322 ADX--on Los Flores Street in Fountain Valley. But they were unable to locate a suspect until Friday.

Witnesses told police that two men had been fighting in a narrow alleyway behind South Jeffrey Drive about 4 p.m. March 11.

One of the men, who appeared to be drunk, jumped into the Nova, police said. He drove down the alley, striking two metal posts and a garage door before hitting Victor, who was watching the fight. The driver did not stop, and Victor died an hour later at a local hospital.

Victor lived with his parents, Celia and Guadalupe Magana, and four brothers and sisters.

His parents moved to the United States in 1979 from their native state in Michoacan, Mexico. The family had lived in the apartment complex just a block west of the Disneyland Hotel for 3 years.

Guerrero’s pretrial hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Municipal Court, Fullerton.