Boy Becomes East Valley’s 3rd Hit-Run Victim in 5 Days : Crime: Skyy Nelson, 7, dies after being run down. Neighbors describe street as dangerous, with speeding a constant problem.

In the third death caused by a hit-and-run driver in the east San Fernando Valley in five days, a 7-year-old boy was struck and killed Sunday as he and his sister bolted across the street to get to an ice cream truck, police said.

Skyy Nelson was hit by a black 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit as he ran across the street behind his 4-year-old sister in the 9000 block of Tobias Avenue at 10:25 a.m., said Officer Frank Zdroy of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police said the boy ran into the street from between parked cars. Witnesses told police the driver of the car, described as a mustachioed male Latino about 25 years old, didn’t stop despite the loud, dull sound made when the child was struck.

“I crossed the street when I heard the thud,” said a 40-year-old man who witnessed the accident, according to a police report. “The car never slowed or stopped.”

A witness said the driver sped north on Tobias, turned right onto Nordhoff and disappeared. Witnesses estimated the car was traveling at least 40 m.p.h.

The impact of the crash yanked the victim from his shoes and threw his body about 25 feet from where the accident occurred, witnesses said.

The boy was taken by ambulance to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where he was placed on life-support systems but died at 4:15 p.m., a nursing supervisor said.

Sheila Renee Jones, 38, the boy’s mother, could not be reached for comment.

Neighbors said they were not surprised by the incident, since drivers frequently speed along the street in the low-income neighborhood.

“I’ve lived here for six or seven months and I’ve seen at least six accidents where no one even bothers to get out of their cars and exchange names,” said Ronda Anderson, an apartment manager who lives across the street from where the boy was hit.

“And if you stand here long enough you’ll see a car come speeding down the street,” she said. “And when the cops leave, it’s back to business as usual.”

Police from the San Fernando Valley Traffic Division confirmed neighbors’ complaints that speeding cars and accidents involving uninsured motorists in the area are a constant problem.

Joe Gomez, who manages the Green Village Apartments, where the victim lived with his mother, said the boy and his sister moved into the apartment complex only the day before. The boy’s mother had lived there since April 1, he said.

On Wednesday night, a 12-year-old girl and her mother were struck and killed as they crossed a Pacoima intersection where neighbors for more than two years had tried to get city officials to install a traffic light.

Maria Godoy, 48, and her daughter, Amalia, were struck by a car while crossing the unmarked intersection at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Montague Street on their way home from a relative’s house, authorities said.

Godoy’s son, Marco, 13, was walking with them, but stopped to tie his shoe before he stepped into the intersection, authorities said.

Fernando Bengoechea, 23, of Arleta, reportedly the driver of the car, turned himself in to police shortly before midnight on Wednesday, about four hours after the accident.

Police said they were still searching Sunday night for the driver who struck Nelson.