Phone Tip Leads to Arrest of Skid Row Auto Death Suspect

Acting on an anonymous telephone tip, police arrested a man early Sunday who allegedly fled the scene of a hit-and-run accident that left a homeless man dead and five others injured outside a mission in downtown Los Angeles.

The caller alerted police to the driver’s whereabouts in a downtown hotel, said Los Angeles Police Officer Bruce Wallace of the Central Traffic Division. Officers went to the Palmer Hotel on South Wall Street at 2:30 a.m. and arrested a man they identified as Marcello Garcia Legua, a 47-year-old Cuban national.

Legua is being held on suspicion of manslaughter and hit-and-run driving, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Stan Massey said.

An unidentified homeless man waiting in line for food outside the Fred Jordan Mission at 445 Towne Ave. was killed and three men and two women were injured in the Saturday morning incident.

The suspect, driving a 1975 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, apparently tried to pass a big-rig truck carrying tomatoes on the right-hand side as the truck was turning right from Towne Avenue onto 5th Street, police said.

The car hit the truck before jumping the curb and striking the transients as they sat on the 5th Street sidewalk. Some of the victims were pinned under the car and others trapped between the car and the mission’s wall, Massey said. The driver and three passengers in the car fled the accident scene on foot, he said.

The unidentified man died shortly after noon Saturday at County-USC Medical Center. Four of those injured were taken to nearby hospitals.

Two of the victims were seriously injured. Ann Sisco, 38, suffered a crushed pelvis and Tony Martinas, 26, suffered a broken leg. Both were reported in fair condition Sunday at County-USC Medical Center. The three others were treated for minor bruises.