Neighbors Express Outrage After Child Killed by Car

A 20-year-old Hollywood man was booked on suspicion of manslaughter Saturday after the car he was driving late Friday allegedly ran onto a Highland Park sidewalk and plowed into a group of children, killing a 6-year-old boy and injuring three others.

The children, all residents of a nearby apartment building, were playing on the sidewalk.

Police said that about 7:30 p.m. Friday, Gabino Nunez Avila was driving his Chevrolet Camaro south on Figueroa Street when he swerved to the right to avoid hitting another vehicle. The car ran onto the sidewalk at the southwest corner of Figueroa and Crestwood Way.

An investigation was ongoing, and other details--such as the speed of the car and the physical state of the driver--were not available.

Nunez Avila, who sustained minor injuries, was confronted immediately by a group of enraged adults, including the parents of the dead boy, neighbors said. The arrival of paramedics and police defused a tense standoff, neighbors said.

Killed was Matthew Ruiz, 6. Still in critical condition Saturday at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena was Kimberly Cortez, 3, whom neighbors identified as a sister or stepsister of the dead boy. The girl suffered “major head injuries,” police said.

Two sisters were taken to County-USC Medical Center. Erica Cruz, 4, was discharged after being treated for abrasions, a hospital spokeswoman said. Maria Cruz, 6, who has facial and head injuries, remained hospitalized in stable condition.

On Saturday, a makeshift shrine was erected on the blood-spattered sidewalk, a place where children from the apartment house often cavorted, sometimes in chase of an ice cream truck. A felled street sign remained on the ground. Passersby left flowers, stuffed animals and candles as traffic sped briskly along this hilly stretch of Figueroa northeast of downtown.

“I wish the city would do something about these cars, but I doubt they ever will,” one resident said as she stopped to leave a bouquet.

For some time, stunned neighbors said, they had hoped that authorities would install a traffic light or stop sign on Figueroa. They called the stretch of several blocks a notorious speeding zone, despite the many children living in the mostly Latino, working-class community.

“It’s so dangerous out there,” said Georgina Torrez, a 28-year-old mother of three who lives in the same apartment complex as the injured children. “I just have to thank God none of my kids were out there when this happened,” she added.