In Memoriam : Children, Parents Pay Respects to Crossing Guard Killed at School

Shaken children and parents took scores of roses and carnations Tuesday morning to a Whittier elementary school in memory of a 67-year-old crossing guard who was struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver.

In a school conference room, sad and angry parents and school officials called on county engineers to place a traffic signal in front of Lake Marie Elementary School to help children cross busy Carmenita Road. It was the latest of several such appeals during the last three years, they said.

The death Monday of Juan Antonio Vela, 67, of Pomona has filled them with a new sense of urgency. Vela was run down in front of the school Monday as he prepared to lead two sisters across the street.

“How many do we have to lose over something like this. We’re not going to give up,” said PTA President Debbie Smiley.

In response, county traffic engineer Christopher G. Ramstead promised a traffic study, even though three prior surveys indicated that a signal was not warranted.

There have been no other pedestrian accidents near the school in the last three years, a county spokeswoman said.

A crossing guard is probably the best way to ensure the children’s safety, Ramstead said. No signal, or other traffic measure, could protect pedestrians against a drunk driver, the engineer said, adding, “I can’t guarantee it won’t happen again.”

Parents and officials of the South Whittier School District recently won a battle for a traffic light at another district school. Last December, the county installed a signal at Howard J. McKibben Elementary after a 4-year-old girl was killed by a motorist.

A county survey completed last March indicated that speeding is a problem on Carmenita Road. The speed limit is 25 m.p.h. during school hours, but the study showed that cars travel at an average speed of 43 m.p.h. during the afternoon, when children leave school, county spokeswoman Jean Granucci said.

California Highway Patrol spokesman David Boyland said officers frequently patrol the four-lane highway and hope to obtain radar guns for better enforcement of speeding laws.

Investigators said Vela was holding a stop sign and wearing an orange reflective vest while crossing the street to help two girls waiting on the school side of the street.

Patrick Robert McLaughlin, who was driving about 50 m.p.h., apparently did not see that cars had stopped in front of him to let the students pass. He swerved, left his lane and hit Vela, Boyland said.

McLaughlin, 43, of Anaheim, was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, felony hit and run and felony drunk driving in Vela’s death. An open container of vodka was found in his car, authorities said. Arraignment is scheduled today.

The school district made a psychologist available to parents and students, but only one student received counseling, said Lake Marie School Principal Gail Baxter. She said about twice as many parents as usual escorted their children to school Tuesday.

Vela’s car was still parked on a side street near the school Tuesday morning. Parents and students covered the faded blue vehicle with flowers.

“He would always tell us jokes and stuff,” Remy Hernandez, 10, who arrived with several red roses, said of Vela. “He was always really perky and friendly.”

Vela’s supervisor, Lydia Pompey, said Vela recognized the risk involved in ferrying children across Carmenita Road.

“He said it was worse facing the traffic every day than it was in World War II, when he was in the South Pacific,” Pompey said. “But he said, ‘I’m here for the children.’ ”