BURBANK : Seriously Injured Boy Shows Improvement

On Sunday, 3 1/2 year-old Gilberto Luevanos recognized his mother for the first time in a week.

The toddler, in intensive care since he was struck by a car near the Luevanos’ Burbank home on Mother’s Day, came close to tears.

“When he saw his mother he wanted to cry,” said his father, Filimon Luevanos. But the pain from the respirator prevented him.

The child had improved enough Monday to be moved out of intensive care at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Because of pain and medication, he has yet to speak.

“I think he’s going to make it,” said the boy’s uncle, Rodrigo Dominguez.

On May 9, the boy followed his mother out of the house without her knowledge as she crossed the street to unload groceries from their car, his father said. Gilberto was struck and thrown about 25 feet, suffering serious injuries.

The car, driven by a Riverside man who was not charged, was moving at 25 m.p.h., police said. “The driver couldn’t have done anything to prevent it,” Officer Steve Castleberry said.

The accident has been hardest on his wife, Luevanos said. She has not left the hospital except for a few hours this weekend, he said.

“We have no insurance, we don’t have nothing,” said Luevanos, who works for a bakery in Northridge. His wife, Delia, works for a convalescent hospital.

A fund-raising effort by a Burbank union and Faith Church of the Nazarene has so far collected about $1,300.

“They’re very simple people, very nice and loving people,” said Blanca Granados, a computer operator for the city who was nearby when the accident happened. She persuaded the employees union to donate $1,000 to the family and has become friends with them.

Donations are being accepted at the Luevanos Family Fund at the The Faith Church of the Nazarene, 505 S. 6th St., Burbank 91501.