They Lost a Brother to Bullets, Truck to Bureaucracy

The family of a Mexican-born man who was shot and killed on an Orange County freeway in August now faces the loss of the pickup truck that police impounded for evidence in the case.

City of Orange police had the truck towed from the family’s apartment the day Juan Pedro Trujillo was killed. Now the towing company says the family owes $300 in accumulated storage fees. If the money is not paid, the family has been told, the truck will be sold at auction on Oct. 13.

“When they took the truck, we were told that it wouldn’t cost us anything because the towing was going to be paid by the police who took the truck as part of an investigation to find out who shot Juan,” said Trujillo’s sister, Carmen Saragoza.

Police Blame Family

Orange police blame the relatives, saying that when the truck was released by the department on Aug. 11, the family failed to claim it. However, Saragoza said the family--whose members speak little English and have trouble understanding the legal system--was told by the towing firm that because of contracts with the Police Department a $120 fee had to be paid before the truck could be released.

“What someone should have done was to call us to get the truck out,” said Orange Police Sgt. Art Romo. “They should have complained to us about it and we would have helped them.”

Since then, the storage costs have risen to $631, but Romo said that he contacted the towing company and they agreed to reduce it to $300. Family members, however, say they do not have the money to pay even the reduced amount.

Saragoza said she and her husband, Juan, and their six children share a two-bedroom Anaheim apartment with another family and “we barely make ends meet here as you can see.”

Hope to Visit Mexico

The family would like to sell the 1973 Datsun pickup to help pay for a trip to Mexico to visit Trujillo’s grave. Saragoza said they did not attend her brother’s funeral in the rural Mexican village of El Juamuchil because they could not afford the air fare.

Trujillo, a tire store employee, was struck and killed when someone fired several rounds from a semiautomatic assault rifle into the truck as he drove on the Santa Ana Freeway. His passengers--his brother, Jose, the registered owner of the truck, and a cousin--were not hurt. Despite dozens of tips, police said they have no leads and are continuing to look for a blue Oldsmobile Cutlass they believe was involved in the shooting.