Runaway Car Kills Girl and Injures Sister : Tragedy: The two were walking to school in San Pedro when station wagon without brakes swerved into them. Eight-year-old is in critical condition.

Two young sisters strolling to a San Pedro elementary school Monday morning were struck by an out-of-control station wagon that swerved onto a sidewalk, killing one and critically injuring the other.

Lara Ramirez, 7, was killed instantly; her sister, Gezella, 8, who was thrown onto a lawn, was rushed to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for treatment. She was in critical condition Monday afternoon as she underwent surgery for a severe injury to her left leg.

The driver, Gary Hartman, 31, of San Pedro lost control of his 1965 Jeep station wagon after his brakes failed while he was driving his two children to a nearby junior high school, said Officer Mike Cummins of the Los Angeles Police Department.

As Hartman rolled down a hill on 19th Street toward South Alma Street, he swerved around several cars sitting at a stop sign, Cummins said. Hartman swerved again to avoid a car in the intersection and, at 25 m.p.h., slammed into the two girls who were waiting at the curb to cross the street.

The sisters, a second-grader and a third-grader, were about two blocks from Leland Elementary School when they were struck.

Gezella Ramirez called for her mother as she lay on a lawn in pain, said Debra Smeltzer, 32, a neighbor who held the girl’s hand and prayed as paramedics arrived.

“Fortunately she landed on the grass,” Smeltzer said. “That’s probably how she made it.”

Smeltzer tried to move away from Ramirez to let emergency crews treat her, but the girl gripped her hand even harder, she said.

“The more I prayed with her, the more she calmed down,” Smeltzer said. “She kept holding on to me.”

Hartman, who could not be reached for comment, stayed at home in bed and grieved throughout the day, said Bo Califano, 13, who lives with his mother and Hartman in a San Pedro home. “He was just lying there crying,” he said.

Officials at the elementary school called in psychologists to help children cope with news of the accident.

“Many of the kids don’t comprehend it,” Principal Richard Vladovic said. Officials visited many of the school’s classrooms to discuss the accident and the children’s feelings, he said.

“We talk about how precious life is and about how we need to remember to love the sister that’s in the hospital,” he said.

Samuel Smeltzer, whose wife, Debra, had aided Lara Ramirez, said the intersection is very busy and called for a crossing guard to help children across the street in the morning.

But Vladovic disagreed. “I don’t know if it would have made any difference,” he said.

Hours after the accident, neighbors stood outside their homes and grieved.

“I’m sad,” said Lina Cavedoni, 65, who walked from her home a block down the street to place a bouquet of white flowers at the site. “A girl is dead.”

Times staff writer Gordon Dillow contributed to this story.