Deputy a ‘Hero’ for Persistence in Hit-Run Case

It was a haunting hit-and-run case, Sheriff’s Deputy Guy Van Sickle remembers, the kind he just couldn’t get out of his mind.

A young Mexican immigrant, working seven days a week to save up enough money to buy a truck, had been killed March 24 when a car ran a red light and hit him broadside as he bicycled across Hawthorne Boulevard in Torrance.

The victim, 24-year-old Jorge Rodelo, was dragged beneath the car for more than 100 feet, severing one of his legs and strewing bicycle and car parts along the street, police said.

A witness told police that the car’s driver continued on for more than a quarter-mile before he pulled over, yanked Rodelo’s bicycle loose from the front of his car, and sped away.

Armed with a partial description of the car and its driver, Van Sickle began patrolling his beat, keeping a special eye out for gold-colored Firebirds and Camaros. On Wednesday, his efforts paid off when Torrance police arrested a suspect based on information Van Sickle provided about a car he had stopped on May 13.

Investigators now believe that John Tupeona Tago, 26, of Wilmington, was driving the gold 1972 Pontiac Firebird that struck and killed Rodelo. Tago reportedly had borrowed the car for the day from his brother--who apparently was driving the car when it was stopped by Van Sickle.

Investigators said Tago, who does not yet have a lawyer, has denied any involvement in the accident.

After being notified on Tuesday that police had a warrant for his arrest, Tago agreed to surrender Wednesday morning. He was being held in lieu of $11,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on one count of felony hit-and-run driving and one count of misdemeanor manslaughter today.

The arrest follows an eight-week search by Van Sickle--who made the case a priority even though it was not officially a Sheriff’s Department investigation. He learned of the fatal accident after it was reported over police radio.

For roughly two months, the Lomita sheriff’s deputy stayed on the alert as he cruised, checking cars in his rear-view mirror for signs of front-end damage and stopping at least 10 cars for a closer look and a chat with the driver. Though each possibility fell through, Van Sickle refused to give up.

“It was the principle of it that got to me, I guess,” Van Sickle explained Wednesday.

“A crime like this, it sticks with me,” he said. “I felt for (Rodelo) and his family and I guess I felt anger toward the guy who did it. He willfully took off. He knew what he was doing. He hit this guy and just kept on going. . . . I just kept looking, every day.”

Torrance Police Officer Dale Robbins, who investigated the case, said he might never have found a suspect without Van Sickle’s efforts.

“He’s our hero in this,” Robbins said. “That deputy made the case for us. For him to have beaten the bush and read the teletypes. . . . We weren’t getting anywhere until he brought our attention to this car.”

Robbins said broken car parts found at the scene of the accident, including a portion of a car’s front grill, matched pieces missing from the impounded Firebird. He said lab technicians also found bits of fabric stuck to the car’s undercarriage that matched clothing worn by Rodelo on the day he was killed.

“The grill piece just fit right in there, like a missing piece from a puzzle,” Robbins said. “So we knew we had the right car. . . . We had to figure out who was driving it.”

Police took photos of Tago, his brother and four men not related to the case and showed the six pictures to the man who witnessed the accident. He identified Tago as the driver he saw hit Rodelo, Robbins said.

Tago “has been cooperative, but he will not admit to the accident,” Robbins said.

Rodelo’s family said they are pleased that police did not give up on the case.

“We just wanted to find the guy so that nothing would happen to another family like (what) happened to this family,” said Mayra Rodriguez, 20, one of Rodelo’s cousins. “Nothing is going to bring (Rodelo) back, but we want justice.”

She said her cousin was a quiet, hard-working man who had been an elementary school teacher in Mexicali, Mexico, before a teacher’s strike there led him to move to Harbor City two years ago. He had been taking English classes at Harbor College in Wilmington, preparing to be a teacher here.

In recent months, Rodelo had been working two jobs--five days as a gasket-maker at a Torrance engineering firm and two days at a Redondo Beach coffee shop as a cook--to save up for a new truck. He was $200 short of his goal when he was killed, Rodriguez said.

He habitually sent a portion of his earnings back to his mother and two younger brothers in Mexico to help support them, Rodriguez said. Last year, he bought an old station wagon and drove it to Mexicali to give to his mother.

“He was working so hard, taking care of everyone,” she said, starting to cry softly.

“What kind of human could do this? (The driver) even stopped the car to get the bike (out of the way). . . . How could someone do something like this?”