Alleged Graffiti Painter Struck, Killed Running Across Freeway

Only 90 minutes into his 17th birthday, a youth suspected of spray-painting insignias along the San Diego Freeway was killed early Tuesday when he was struck by a truck while running across the freeway.

The Orange County coroner’s office identified the victim as Enrique Becerra, 17, of Long Beach. The accident took place around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, just north of the 7th Street off-ramp on the freeway in Seal Beach.

Authorities suspect that just before the accident, the victim and another 17-year-old boy with him had left their markings in spray paint on several spots along the freeway in North County, both on pillars and on the center dividers.

“This kid was just starting his life,” California Highway Patrol Officer Lyle Whitten said. “And then to have his life snuffed out just because he wanted to leave his mark on a freeway pillar. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Whitten said the two youths apparently spotted a CHP vehicle and tried to run from the center divider across the northbound freeway to the side of the road. But Becerra didn’t make it.

Becerra “stumbled and fell in the slow lane as a big-rig truck came by on a curve,” Whitten said. “The driver said there was no way to avoid hitting the boy who had fallen in front of his truck. He was apparently killed on impact.”

The driver was identified as Kenneth Fuller, 42, of Riverside. No citation will be issued against him, Whitten said.

The second suspected spray-painter ran into the bushes and escaped, while a third suspect, a 15-year-old boy waiting on the roadside in a van, fled the scene in the vehicle as officers arrived, Whitten said.

Whitten said Becerra was identified Tuesday afternoon when the other 17-year-old called authorities to check the condition of his friend.

“This guy was shocked to hear that his friend had been killed,” Whitten said.

During the conversation with authorities, Whitten said the youth agreed to cooperate with police and identified the dead youth and the 15-year-old driver of the van, who the officer said was “much more upset than anyone.”

Whitten said all three of the youths belong to one of what authorities describe as a number of “tagging crews” that roam the Southland spraying graffiti on highway pillars, overpasses and sound walls. He said all three reportedly were on probation for misdemeanor vandalism convictions stemming from their past spray-painting activities.

Whitten said the crews are different from organized gangs. Gangs, he said, generally paint public property as territorial markers.

“The tagging crews just do this to gain some recognition,” he said.

After learning of Becerra’s death, the 15-year-old suspect told authorities that it was the first time he had accompanied the two other youths, and did so to gain acceptance in the tagging crew, Whitten said.

Whitten said the boy reportedly was able to get the van after his father was told that the vehicle would be driven by the boy’s sister.

The CHP officer said the two boys, both from Long Beach, were released after being questioned. Since there was a death involved, Whitten said, manslaughter charges could be filed against one or both of Becerra’s alleged accomplices.

“This is the first time we’ve had one of the graffiti writers killed in our area,” said Whitten, who is based with the CHP in the Westminster.

Orange County Deputy Coroner Jacque Berndt agreed, saying: “This is the first one I’ve heard of. It’s certainly not common.”