Mother Upset by Release of Suspect in Boy’s Death : Investigation: Police freed the man after he surrendered in a hit-and-run accident that killed Jose Escobedo, 5. ‘I want justice,’ woman says.

Little Jose Escobedo just wanted to go to the store.

It was 10:10 p.m. Wednesday, and the 5-year-old’s aunt started to head out the door to pick up some milk and soda at a mini-mart near their south Pomona home.

But Jose could not wait, so he jumped on his black two-wheeler and pedaled out into the night.

On South Park Avenue, a black, 1985 Buick Park Avenue plowed into the boy, who was caught under the car and dragged along with his bike for about 200 feet.

The driver sped off.

Jose died 35 minutes later at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.

On Thursday night, the boy’s distraught mother, 21-year-old Lorena Flores, got another jarring shock while watching the evening news on a Spanish-language TV station: The alleged driver, accompanied by an attorney, had turned himself in at the Pomona police station--and then was released, pending further investigation. She fainted at the news, a relative said.

“I want justice,” Flores said in Spanish through a translator Friday afternoon.

She cried nonstop and dabbed at her reddened eyes with a tissue.

“I want him in jail because he didn’t stop.”

Neighbors and relatives said they cannot understand why police released 27-year-old Robert Baron Lindsay of Pomona. He told police that he did not see the boy dart into the street on South Park Avenue near Gambier Drive. Lindsay later admitted to investigators that he had panicked and fled, police said.

In felony cases, it is not uncommon for police to release the suspect while an investigation is under way, Pomona Lt. Rick Mackey said Friday. Authorities plan to have their investigation for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office completed by early next week, he said. If the district attorney decides to press charges, police can arrest Lindsay, Mackey said.

Sgt. Tom Andrew said investigators are going by the book.

“We just didn’t let him go,” said Andrew, who is president of the Pomona Police Officers Assn. “There is follow-up to be done. We can’t take the rights away from (the suspect). We need to do it properly.”

Flores is unemployed. A single mother who came to California from Mexico six years ago, she lives with relatives in a small, sparsely furnished home with iron bars on the windows. She has another son, 3-year-old Luis, who keeps asking for his brother, Flores said. Jose used to feed his little brother from his own plate, even sharing his favorite cornflakes, and he would dress Luis in the morning, she said.

Flores showed a picture of Jose, a cherubic boy with large brown eyes. A kindergarten student, he used to love to rush home from school and show off his newly learned English.

Flores said the boy would say “What’s up?” or “You know what I mean?”

His favorite song was “Dios es Amor” or “God Is Love,” said the boy’s aunt, Marina Salinas, 28.

“They’re not doing justice at all,” Salinas said. “Other people don’t do anything, and (police) take them into custody.”

Residents in the working-class Latino neighborhood said they also are upset that the city does not put stop signs or speed bumps on their street. About two years ago, a young boy was killed on South Park Avenue by a hit-and-run driver and died in his mother’s arms, neighbor Irene Ramirez, 22, said.

A graffiti-covered sign on South Park shows that the speed limit is 15 m.p.h., but drivers commonly go 40 m.p.h., Ramirez said. Most neighbors have chain-link fences in front of their houses to keep small children from running into the street, she said.

“I’m upset because he didn’t stop,” Ramirez said. “A human being. That’s sad. Doesn’t he have a heart? I don’t agree with the cops letting him go. They should do something about it.”

The police association and the Pomona Firemens Assn. have set up a fund to help the victim’s family pay for funeral expenses. Information is available at (909) 593-4882.