Residents Want Action After Fatal Accident on Figueroa

Gloria Estrada, whose son died in her arms, is the latest to take on the horrors of North Figueroa Street.

For years, residents in the rambling old neighborhoods of Highland Park have complained about North Figueroa Street being a de facto freeway for frustrated commuters between Pasadena and downtown.

Drivers barreling down from Eagle Rock would crest the hill only to learn too late what might be stopped ahead of them on the down side. At night, they often lost control, striking trees, poles and parked cars. Meanwhile, pedestrians risked their lives crossing the street and neighbors could only grit their teeth and pray as they backed out of their driveways.

In December 1996, a 16-year-old driver ran off the road at Annon Way, tearing through a chain-link fence and slamming into an oak. She and three passengers were killed.

Residents fretted that if the city did nothing to pull the reins on the traffic, one of them was going to get killed someday.

The city did nothing. Studies of traffic flow and accident patterns showed that the street did not warrant additional traffic lights and signs.

So there was no traffic signal last October when 20-year-old Gambino Avila drove his Chevy Camaro up the steep rise heading south on a warm evening. As he came over the hump, a car making a left turn blocked the fast lane. He swerved, overcompensating, and careened into a group of children eating ice cream on the sidewalk. Minutes later, Matthew Ruiz, 6, died. His younger sister Jennifer, whose skull was crushed, still suffers neurological problems, the family said.

It was against this numbing backdrop that Matthew’s mother, Gloria Estrada, announced Saturday that she plans to file a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, Avila and the owner of the apartment building where she lived.

“I blame the city mainly,” she said earlier in an interview at the corner of Crestwood Way where her son was killed. “Hopefully, this will get them to do something. We want more lights and more notification that there are children present.”

In the lawsuit, her attorney says that the city “had actual knowledge of the existence of the condition of public property . . . and knew or should have known of its dangerous character a sufficient time prior to” the accident.

Residents and Councilman Richard Alatorre had requested long before the accident that a traffic signal or stop sign be installed.

In the wake of Estrada’s son’s death, the city Department of Transportation put up a pedestrian warning signal at the top of the hill, which senses when people are waiting to cross and flashes yellow lights to traffic. It was the second such light to be installed in Los Angeles County, costing $25,000, which is $50,000 to $75,000 less than a normal signal, official said. On Saturday, the light flashed almost constantly, though there were no pedestrians to be seen.

Neighborhood drivers say they have become desensitized to the flashing, and drive just as fast as they always have.

“It’s worthless,” said Angie Torres. “Nobody pays attention to it.”

She said that during rush hours, she hears tires screeching to unexpected stops almost every day.

The city also repainted the lane lines, removed street parking on the northbound side, and put up a short guardrail in front of the apartment building where Matthew was killed. The rail has since been crumpled by a car, and the lack of street parking has allowed drivers to speed up, residents said.

Jim Sherman, principal traffic engineer for the city, said a traffic light or stop sign “would not be appropriate.”

“The accident was very unfortunate,” he said. “But we really don’t see a pattern of accidents at the intersection.” He added that the issue of speeding vehicles should be addressed by police.

Estrada’s Brentwood lawyer, S. Charles Messer, said such a dangerous traffic situation near an elementary school would never occur on the Westside.

“Where I live, I see speed bumps and signs prohibiting driving in certain directions. Streets are blocked off to Sunset [Boulevard],” he said.

As Messer spoke at the intersection Saturday, Estrada rocked her baby and looked down at the sidewalk where she saw her kids pinned and bleeding under the Camaro.

That afternoon a year ago, Matthew had run up to her and begged her for money because the ice cream truck was leaving.

“His last words to me were, ‘But Jennifer got an ice cream cone, Mommy,’ ” recounted Estrada. She gave him the money and he ran out to catch the truck that was pulling away. Moments later, Estrada heard a crush of metal. She called 911, thinking that a motorist was hurt. But her husband screamed that it was her children.

She rushed outside and picked up Matthew, who was spitting blood with each gasp of air. She put her hand on his chest and felt his heart stop, she said.

“I could have lost all my kids that day,” she said.