Van Fleeing Police Kills Bystander : Crime: Woman was at bus stop, bound for work. A pickup truck also is struck and its driver injured.

A 23-year-old housekeeper, up before dawn to take the bus to work, was killed at a Canoga Park bus stop Wednesday by a van full of burglary suspects fleeing police, authorities said.

Reyna Martinez Duarte of Canoga Park was struck by the van, then dragged about 75 feet along the curb, police said. Moments earlier, the van had broadsided a pickup truck, seriously injuring its driver.

Police identified the van’s driver as Steven Ray Pickard, a paroled burglar they said had been under round-the-clock surveillance since Monday. Pickard and three alleged accomplices also were seriously injured in the 5:40 a.m. crash at the intersection of De Soto Avenue and Saticoy Street, said Police Lt. William Gaida.

Before the chase started, undercover officers had watched “from a safe distance” as Pickard and his accomplices burglarized a convenience store in Calabasas, Gaida said. The officers--part of a Valley Bureau undercover team--did not move in to arrest the suspects during the burglary, choosing to follow the van while calling uniformed officers for help.

The pursuit moved from the Ventura Freeway to De Soto Avenue, where it picked up speed after marked police cars unsuccessfully tried to stop the van.

Police Capt. Valentino Paniccia, commander of the patrol area in which the crash occurred, said he believes officers acted properly, although he added that a routine pursuit investigation would be conducted.

“There was little else that can be done when you have verified criminal suspects and they resist arrest and refuse to stop their vehicles,” Paniccia said. “If we had the slightest inkling and knew what was going to happen, we would not have had the pursuit. Obviously, we’re sorry.”

Criminologist Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina specialist in police pursuits, said the chase raised a number of tactical questions, especially since Pickard was wanted for burglary and not for a crime of violence.

“Why did they wait until they were off the freeway to initiate the pursuit? Freeway pursuits are much less dangerous than surface street pursuits,” Alpert said. “The police mission is to protect lives and life’s more important than property. Even 100 or 1,000 burglaries isn’t worth the injuries and the deaths that occur.”

Gaida and other officials said officers had followed department policy as they chased Pickard north on De Soto Avenue. Although Pickard was traveling at an estimated speed of 85 m.p.h. and running red lights, Gaida said, the two patrol cars following him remained three to four blocks behind and were slowing down at intersections.

Martinez Duarte is the only bystander in the last three years to be killed in a traffic crash stemming from a police pursuit, a Police Department spokeswoman said.

Pickard and his passengers--Saul Dominguez, 24, of Canoga Park; Jose Sanvega, 30, of Canoga Park, and Marco Ortega, 26, of Reseda--were being held in the county jail’s medical ward on suspicion of murder.

Pickard, 32, is believed responsible for at least 100 San Fernando Valley burglaries. Cigarettes stolen from convenience stores were sold on the black market, Gaida said.

The chase began after uniformed officers called in to make the arrests pulled Pickard over at the intersection of De Soto and Burbank Boulevard. After stopping briefly, Pickard sped north on De Soto, Gaida said.

At the intersection of Saticoy Street, Pickard ran a red light and collided with a pickup truck driven by Richard Bastonero, 26, of Canoga Park.

The truck spun around and landed in the front yard of a house at the northeast corner of the intersection, striking a stone chimney, homeowner Nabil Farag said.

“There was a loud noise, like a big explosion,” Farag said.

Bastonero was thrown through his truck’s windshield onto a wall. He was hospitalized in serious but stable condition, Gaida said.

After broadsiding Bastonero, Pickard’s van careened on its side into a bus stop in front of Farag’s home, striking Martinez Duarte, traffic Detective Anthony Bartolotto said.

Martinez Duarte gave birth to a girl about a month ago and returned to work as a housekeeper for a Mission Hills family soon after to support herself and the child, said Elvy Iannone, a family friend.

She emigrated from Guatemala about three years ago to work and send money to her brothers and sisters, Iannone said.

Police said they found burglary tools and stolen cigarettes at the crash scene. Other stolen property was seized during a search of Pickard’s mother’s home in Arleta on Wednesday afternoon, Gaida said.