Decision Not to Prosecute Pastor Draws Mixed Reactions : Crash: Some relatives of victims say he should be held responsible. But most are angry at another driver, who fled and is still at large.

The decision by the Orange County district attorney’s office to not prosecute a pastor who drove a modified van that crashed drew mixed reactions Wednesday among relatives of the eight people who were killed.

Carlos Brahona, the grandfather of 13-year-old Iris Roman, said he felt that charging Pastor Octavio Valentin “wouldn’t help his granddaughter” and would only stir up “bad” emotions. Valentin allegedly did not bolt the van’s modified rear seats to the floor, and the vehicle lacked seat belts.

But Iris’ mother, Yanira Enriquez, 32, differed. She has told her daughter’s grandparents that she believes the pastor should be held responsible.

“As for me, I feel it would be fruitless to bring any kind of charges against the pastor now. My wife and I do not have ill feelings toward him,” Brahona said.

Enriquez said: “I don’t feel the pastor is guilty of causing the death of my daughter. But I think he should share in some of the responsibility. It’s a hard thing to express. He was really nice to my little girl. I’m still very emotional about the pain from my daughter’s death.”

Although he feels terrible about losing his granddaughter, Brahona said that the pastor did not cause Iris’ death. “Sometimes people die in car accidents,” he said. “This one cost us a lot but what would we gain by prosecuting him?”

Most relatives who were interviewed directed their anger toward Fernando Hernandez Flores, 23, of Riverside, who fled the scene. He remains a fugitive with an arrest warrant for felony hit and run. Authorities believe he may have fled to Mexico.

Abel Mendez, who lost a daughter, a sister and three nephews in the Sept. 20 crash, agreed with Brahona.

“I believe that the driver responsible was the man who struck the church van in a pickup. I believe he was traveling too fast. He’s the one responsible,” Mendez said.

Eight people died and 11 more were injured in the crash, which has been described as Orange County’s worst.

In the crash, a church van driven by Valentin attempted to make a left turn from Flower Street onto Civic Center Drive and was broadsided by the pickup, which in turn was hit by a car. The driver of the pickup may have run a red light, authorities said.

On Tuesday, the Orange County district attorney’s office decided not to prosecute Valentin for vehicular manslaughter, despite a recommendation for such action by the Santa Ana Police Department.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bruce M. Patterson said that prosecutors eventually decided that they could not prove that the van’s unbolted seats and its lack of seat belts caused the parishioners’ deaths.

Valentin, 56, could not be reached for comment.

His attorney, Richard Farnell of Newport Beach, a former deputy district attorney, praised the prosecutors’ decision, saying that his client was not legally responsible for the deaths.

Valentin “didn’t commit vehicular manslaughter because he didn’t do anything to make him legally responsible to cause these deaths. . . . This accident was caused by someone who ran a red light,” Farnell said.

The attorney added that there needs to be a connection between the deaths and the injuries and the violations of law.

“In this case, there wasn’t any connection,” he said.

“Here is a guy who was taking people to church. He and his wife don’t have a lot of money. They’re doing the best that they can. Certainly there was no intent whatsoever for this to happen. He will take the memory of this to his grave. His remorse is incredible,” Farnell said.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board to determine if the church van met federal safety standards is pending.