ECHO PARK : Residents Plagued by Runaway Vehicles

Just as Armando Sanchez began to prepare dinner for his family one Tuesday last month, an uninvited visitor arrived without so much as ringing the doorbell.

A 25-foot moving van crashed through the living room wall, narrowly missing Sanchez, his wife and their 5-year-old daughter. The family suffered only a few scrapes and bruises, but their home was demolished.

“I’ve never seen anything like it--there was a truck in my living room,” Sanchez said.

Among the hills and valleys of Echo Park, where the Sanchez’s Avon Street home is nestled at the bottom of a 25-degree incline, such an accident is not uncommon. Runaway vehicles careen down the area’s steep streets at least once a month, destroying thousands of dollars’ worth of property, said John Wilson, a Central Traffic Division auditor.

A few years ago, Wilson recalled, a cement truck bulldozed several homes as it barreled through the intersection of Earl Street and Glendale Boulevard before landing in a swimming pool. One resident was killed.

There is little the city can do about such accidents, Wilson said.

Many runaway vehicle incidents would be avoided if drivers maintained the brakes on their cars, remembered to apply emergency brakes, and were careful to cramp their wheels to the curb when they park, or parked in driveways, Wilson said.

Police say the brakes on the moving van, loaded with furniture, may have failed. No charges have been filed, but the incident remains under investigation. The driver, Daniel Cortez, 31, was not seriously injured, according to the police report.

The house, on the other hand, was knocked from its foundation. The right side, where the living room was, has collapsed. The attic ceiling rests atop the living room couch.

Leo and Maria Canepa, Armando Sanchez’s in-laws, own the house. Contractors have informed them that the building must be demolished and will cost at least $120,000 to rebuild.

The Canepas, who live next door to the Sanchez family, said they are frustrated that the city does not provide better protection for their houses, which face Avon Park Terrace.

At least twice before, cars coming down the hill have just missed their houses. Last year, a car rolled into the Canepas’ driveway, coming to a halt just before plowing through their gate.

“I would like to see a retaining wall built in front of the house,” said Maria Canepa, who rushed up the hill a few days after the latest accident and berated a driver she saw parking without turning the wheels into the curb.

According to Central Traffic Division officers, the city might take some type of preventive measure, such as creating a no-parking zone, if enough complaints are filed. But one official said it would take “an act of God” to get the city to pay for a retaining wall, which could cost up to $5,000.

“It’s just like in an earthquake; the city is not going to pay for the damage done to houses built on stilts,” said Arvin Turner, an officer in the LAPD’S traffic control division.

The Canepas don’t know if they can afford to rebuild. Although they have insurance, they are unsure whether it will cover the cost of replacing the house.

When she talks about the accident, Maria Canepa begins to get misty-eyed. The house was left to the couple in 1983 in the will of the former owner, an elderly neighbor whom Canepa used to look after. The neighbor knew they would take good care of the house, she said.

“We don’t open our shades,” Leo Canepa said, “so we don’t have to look at it.”