Man Struck, Killed by Van; Toddler Hurt

A 2-year-old San Fernando girl was clinging to life Monday after a van driven by an alleged drunk driver plowed into her yard, striking her and killing her father, authorities said.

Gloria Hernandez was in critical condition at Tarzana Regional Medical Center after the accident Sunday evening in front of her home in the 700 block of Glenoaks Boulevard, officials said.

Members of the girl’s family were keeping a vigil for the toddler beside her bed in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, hospital spokeswoman Janice Deutschman said.

Police arrested Fabian Campos Perez, 25, of Monterey Park shortly after the accident. He faces arraignment today on charges of vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence, San Fernando Police Detective Robert Ordelheide said.

He was being held in the San Fernando Jail in lieu of $30,000 bail, Ordelheide said.

Perez and a friend were heading east on Glenoaks Boulevard at an unknown speed shortly after 8 p.m. when their Dodge van slammed into a car parked on the street just west of Griswold Avenue, Ordelheide said. The van careened onto the sidewalk, struck Jose Hernandez, crashed through a chain-link fence and plowed into his daughter. The van then rammed the side of the Hernandez house, Ordelheide said.

Hernandez, 41, who was cleaning the sidewalk with an air blower, was pronounced dead at the scene. His daughter suffered massive head injuries and was taken to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills before being transferred to the Tarzana hospital, Ordelheide said.

Perez and his passenger were unhurt. Ordelheide said witnesses pulled Perez out of his van and held him until police arrived.

“As far as we can tell, they pulled him out of the car. He became combative with them, so they subdued him and detained him on the ground,” Ordelheide said.

Perez smelled of alcohol and a blood sample was taken, but the results were not available, Ordelheide said. A vendor at the San Fernando swap meet, Perez has no previous record of drunk driving, Ordelheide said.

A traffic signal was installed a few years ago at the Griswold intersection, but a neighbor of the Hernandez family said motorists continue to speed along Glenoaks Boulevard.

“Traffic goes by pretty fast,” said the woman, who declined to give her name.

On Monday, police stationed a SMART (Speed Monitoring Awareness Radar Tool) machine at the site of the accident to remind passing motorists of their speed. The machine flashes the speed limit for the street and then displays the speed of an approaching vehicle on a large sign.

Observation of the machine Monday afternoon showed that motorists regularly exceeded the speed limit of 35 m.p.h.

Officer Robert Jacobs said the SMART machine is usually stationed along Glenoaks Boulevard because of the street’s high number of speeders. The area along Glenoaks east of Griswold is predominantly commercial and industrial, while the area west, where the accident occurred, is primarily residential.