Police Blame Jaywalking in Teen’s Death

The 18-year-old driver who struck and killed another teenager on her way home from school Friday afternoon probably will not be charged with a traffic violation, Los Angeles police said Saturday.

The victim, Grant High School student Inna Marutyan, 16, was jaywalking across Oxnard Street when an eastbound Jeep struck her in the lane closest to the curb.

Marutyan apparently was returning home to an apartment building across the street from the school.

“It appears the student was crossing mid-block outside of the crosswalk,” LAPD spokesman Mike Partain said. “There is no indication that there was any traffic violation on the part of the driver.”

Some students, however, said the driver of the car had been weaving in and out of lanes and speeding. Police deemed those accounts unreliable based on their interviews with accident witnesses and evidence at the scene.

“There was nothing there to support that” the car was speeding. said LAPD Sgt. Rod Graheck. “The car stopped right where the collision occurred and there were very little skid marks.”

But he said witnesses with any additional information may contact police.

Bobbi Farrell, president of the San Fernando Valley chapter of the Parent-Teacher-Student Assn., said jaywalking is an immense problem in the Valley, where streets are wider and traffic is faster than in many areas of the city.

She suggested that safety education, especially for recent immigrants, would be the best way to avoid similar tragedies. Farrell said Marutyan, a Russian immigrant who arrived in the United States two years ago, may never have learned basic traffic rules.

“There are adequate crosswalks near Grant,” said Farrell, who has two children who went to Grant High. “They just feel they can just dart out any place in the middle of the street, and it’s just a deadly thing to do.”

Citywide, 22,777 pedestrian violations were reported in 1996. The Valley consistently leads the city in the number of fatal traffic accidents, Partain said.