CITY TERRACE : Fatal Hit-and-Run Sparks Petition Drive

Rita Cruz thought it was bad enough when a car pummeled into her house on Meisner Street four years ago.

But then Olga Suarez, who had just moved into a trailer on Cruz’s property in April, was hit by a passing car a couple of weeks ago and died of her injuries.

“I don’t know why that lady had to (die),” said Cruz, 72. “They said it happened so fast. She landed on the hood of the car and they kept right on going.”

Now, Cruz and her friends are gathering signatures to get a stop light put at Eastman Avenue and Pomeroy Street to help slow down the cars they say speed through the neighborhood.

Carole Thomas-Fajardo, senior field deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, said the county Public Works Department would have to do a traffic study to determine if a stop light is feasible. But she encouraged residents to send a petition there.

“The force of the community acting in concert is powerful persuasion,” she said.

Cruz said she has seen many accidents in the area caused by speeding drivers. After the car hit her house, the county installed a post with a yellow warning light in front of her property. Suarez, 45, was crossing Pomeroy near Eastman on April 28 at 5:20 p.m. when a brown Toyota four-door sedan going east struck her, said George Ruelas, a California Highway Patrol investigator. The CHP estimates the car was going about 45 m.p.h. in the residential 25 m.p.h. zone. No arrests have been made.

“We have had some (speeding) problems in that area,” Ruelas said, adding that the CHP has increased patrols in the City Terrace neighborhood. “It’s a never-ending battle.”

Anthony Lopez agrees. He said Suarez had brought him a plate of food while he sat outside Ryo’s Market.

As Suarez walked away, apparently toward home, he called out, asking where he should return the plate. After she yelled back that he could take it to her daughter, the car struck her.

“I was so focused on just her that I didn’t see nothing else,” said Lopez, 40. “To see that car hit her, it was slow motion to me. My attention and focal point was totally on her.”

One day the the next week Lopez returned and within about three minutes, counted 66 cars whizzing by at speeds of about 45 to 50 m.p.h. He said he fears for the safety of children from nearby schools and senior citizens who walk in the neighborhood.

“It’s enough to where you get sick of it,” Lopez said. “Around the corner over there, people seem to pick up speed and their tires actually leave the street.”

In addition to collecting signatures to get a signal installed, Cruz and her friends say they want to collect money for Suarez’s burial. She may not have known Suarez long, but Cruz said she misses the woman.

“She didn’t have a place to stay and was in the street crying when my friend found her,” Cruz said. “He brought her to me. I said I could help her out. She didn’t have very much income. She had really struggled.

“Every 15 minutes, she would come and ask me how I was doing,” said Cruz. “I never had someone who loved me so much because I gave her shelter. It’s just so sad.”

Cruz can be reached at (213) 266-2564.