Tragedy Is a Painful Reminder for Witness : Aiding Victim’s Family Helps Him Deal With Past

When Angela Andrade-Torres was struck by a car as she walked home from work, Donald Jenkins chased the suspected drunken driver. While she was hospitalized, Jenkins befriended her family. And when she died this week, he took the loss hard.

For Jenkins, 37, who once was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a head-on collision, the tragedy has both rekindled painful memories and has helped him try to atone, he said.

Jenkins, a Fountain Valley resident, was driving on Magnolia Avenue just before midnight on Oct. 16 when he saw a car swerve onto the sidewalk and strike a woman, carry her about 30 feet until she fell off, and then drive over her. The driver sped away--and Jenkins followed him.

With his help and description, police arrested Daniel Gonzalez Banuelos, 22, of Anaheim. Police later said Banuelos’ blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit of 0.08.

Andrade-Torres, 38, who had been walking from the laundry where she worked to her home--a distance of about 10 yards--suffered massive internal injuries and broken bones.

During the three weeks that she lay in the hospital, Jenkins became devoted to her children.

Since they do not have a car and do not speak English, Jenkins acted as translator, guardian and chauffeur. He found the family an attorney, set up a trust fund for the children and took the family back and forth to the hospital, juggling his job at a sporting apparel store in Cerritos. And he comforted the family when their mother died Monday at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

He had been the only non-family member who was allowed to visit Andrade-Torres in the intensive care unit.

“She didn’t understand English, and I don’t know Spanish, but I was able to hold her hand and comfort her,” he said. “I felt really connected to her, and now I feel really connected to her family.”

Someone, Jenkins said, “had to step forward and help. . . . There’s no father, and the mother just died. Anything I can do, I’m willing to.”

Jenkins also is expected to testify within the next few weeks in the case.

“I hope (Banuelos) gets to spend a lot of time in jail,” he said.

Banuelos, who is held at Orange County Jail on $25,000 bail, could now face manslaughter charges, police said.

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For Jenkins, the traumatic experience has reminded him of another tragedy three years ago on California 1 in Santa Maria.

Jenkins made an unsafe lane change and crashed into a car driven by a 72-year-old man, who was killed. He spent four days in jail, was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 300 hours of community service and three years of informal probation.

“Mine was a tragic accident,” he said. “There were no drugs or alcohol involved. But I think that experience is probably part of the reason why I’m motivated to help this family. But I might have been motivated anyway.”

Andrade-Torres’ death was also deeply felt by residents of the El Fortin Apartments where she and her children had lived for the past year.

Friend and neighbor Irene Rittenhouse said Tuesday that Andrade-Torres was a strong woman who “did not go gently into the night” after being struck.

“She fought hard. She really did rage against the fading light,” she said.

Rittenhouse said Andrade-Torres brought her family to Anaheim from Colima, Mexico, to start a new life. She worked nights cleaning the laundry and was the family’s sole financial support.

“When they first moved here, they had to share an apartment with another family,” Rittenhouse said. “She was so proud when they were able to move into their own apartment three months ago.”

Rittenhouse described the woman’s three daughters, ages 24, 14 and 12, and 19-year-old son, as devastated.

“This is just a total tragedy,” Rittenhouse said. “This drunk driver not only destroyed her life, but her children’s lives. She was a good mother and a nice person. She was a woman who worked hard for her kids and gave them the best that she could.”