Station Owner’s Son Killed Running From Police

The teenage son of a well-known Glendale radio station owner, fleeing from pursuing police Tuesday in a noise-complaint case, tried to run across the Golden State Freeway where he was hit and killed by a semi-trailer truck, police reported.

He was identified by a family spokesman as Sean Michael Beaton, youngest son of Ron Beaton, co-owner of radio station KIEV-AM (870) in Glendale.

The 18-year-old, who was scheduled to join the Army on Thursday, had run away from police investigating a complaint that a motorist had been honking a car horn excessively.

His father is president of the Southern California Broadcasting Company, which owns station KIEV talk radio. The station has been owned by the Beaton family since 1961 when it was purchased by William J. Beaton, Sean’s grandfather.

Sean Beaton attended an out-of-state military academy before transferring to Glendale High School and St. Francis High School in La Canada in his senior year, school authorities said. He left school and earned a high school equivalency certificate last year.

“He had decided that instead of floundering until he figured out what he wanted to do with his life, that a stint in the Army would be a good way to find himself,” said family spokesman David Laurell.

“He made that decision with the blessing of his parents, and he was all set to enlist.”

A U.S. Army recruiter was scheduled to pick him up Thursday at 7:30 a.m. for induction.

At 1:06 a.m. Tuesday, police received a complaint that someone in a black car, possibly a Cadillac, was driving up and down the 200 block of San Fernando Boulevard, honking the horn excessively, according to Police Lt. Duane Dow.

Police stopped a Cadillac matching the caller’s description. As they approached and asked for identification, however, the driver accelerated, brushing past one of the officers without injuring him, Dow said.

The driver fled along Verdugo Avenue at what police described as a high rate of speed, eventually hitting a utility pole at Front Street and Burbank Boulevard. The driver jumped out, dashed down a Golden State freeway onramp and crossed the southbound lanes. Spotting an officer across the freeway, he tried to double back and was hit by a tractor-trailer truck, police said.

The youth may have panicked or have been disoriented by the fog blanketing the area, said his older brother, Ron Beaton Jr., in an interview Tuesday. “He was not suicidal . . . always a positive outlook on everything,” the brother said.

“Everyone is in complete shock,” he said. “We are just devastated.”

The Glendale City Council adjourned its meeting Tuesday in memory of Sean Beaton, and Councilman Larry Zarian, who hosts a weekly radio talk show on KIEV, made a statement in his memory.

A steady stream of phone calls and flower deliveries from friends and well-wishers arrived Tuesday at the family’s home and at the radio station offices on San Fernando Road. Members of the Beaton family stopped by the radio station in the afternoon and were consoled by longtime employees.

“This is a very close family, and the radio station is like an extension of the family. Many of the employees have been here for 10, 20 or even 30 years,” Laurell said.

Sean Beaton is also survived by his mother, Carolyn, and sisters Melissa Beaton and Lisa Hernandez.

Blankstein is a Times staff writer and Ryfle a correspondent.