Traffic Light Near 3 Schools OKd : Safety: The City Council yields to pleas of residents following the critical injury of a 14-year-old.

Responding to pressure from residents, the City Council voted at a special meeting Tuesday to install a traffic signal at an intersection where a 14-year-old boy was critically injured by a car earlier this month.

City officials, after studying the site last week, found that traffic conditions warranted a signal at the intersection of Wells Street and Walnut Grove Avenue, where Rosemead High School freshman Gustavo Palacios was struck by a car Dec. 5 on his way home from wrestling practice.

The Traffic Commission several years ago had turned down a request to install a four-way stop sign at the intersection, city officials said. But this year, an increase in traffic flow and car accidents there contributed to the decision being reversed.

Mayor Jay T. Imperial said installation of the signal should be completed by March, at a cost of about $90,000. Included in the estimate are provisions for street re-striping, left-hand-turn lanes, handicap-access curbs and street sensors.

City Manager Frank G. Tripepi said the money will come out of the city’s reserve fund.

Imperial added that the crossing guard who normally patrols the intersection during school hours will stay on duty after the signal is installed. The intersection’s proximity to three schools makea both the signal and the guard necessary, he said.

“The fact that the city is responding this fast shows that the council really cares,” said James Moran, a friend of the Palacios family who helped neighbors organize into an effective lobbying group.

Last Tuesday, after more than 150 upset residents, some in tears, packed the regularly scheduled council meeting to demand the traffic signal, council members unanimously decided to schedule a special meeting to consider their request.

The council was prohibited from taking a vote on the first evening because California law requires that all public matters be placed on the agenda and posted at City Hall 72 hours before initiating any action.

At the first meeting, residents told graphic stories not only of Palacios’ injury but of a fatality earlier.

Palacios, according to his brother, Vidal, was thrown 70 feet by the collision, sustaining massive head and abdominal injuries. He was still in a coma Wednesday evening at County/USC Medical Center. Family members say he has suffered brain damage, and doctors are nor sure if he will survive.

The driver, 27-year-old Michael Lynn Morrison of San Gabriel, could face a charge of vehicular manslaughter if the youth dies, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Dunkel of the Temple Station’s traffic section. At the least, Morrison will be cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian, Dunkel said. Palacios was in the crosswalk when he was hit.

Residents also complained of two other accidents at the intersection in the past year. Last month, 54-year-old Carlos Herrera of Rosemead was killed by a hit-and-run driver who has not been apprehended. And in January, there was a minor automobile collision in which no injuries were reported.

At the special Tuesday meeting, the council approved the installation of the traffic signal by a 3-0 vote. Two council members--Gary A. Taylor and Dennis McDonald--were absent.

Also approved was a last-minute motion to install a temporary four-way flashing light at the intersection until the signal is constructed.

In addition, residents had asked for a reduced speed limit on Walnut Grove Avenue, which is now posted at 45 m.p.h. City officials said they would conduct a traffic study of the street after the light is installed to determine if a lower speed limit is warranted.