Girl Dies of Hit-and-Run Injuries

An 8-year-old girl who was struck by a hit-and-run driver as she crossed a Stanton street wearing inline skates died Saturday of major head trauma, police said.

Trina Nguyen of Stanton was crossing Western Avenue near Cerritos Street with a group of friends about 8 p.m. Friday when she was hit by a sports car and thrown 30 feet, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Nguyen “may have not been familiar with the inline skates or had some kind of difficulty,” Amormino said. “She had borrowed the inline skates from her friends. They made it across the street. For some reason she lagged behind. She was hit right in the middle of the street.”

On Saturday, family and friends placed a memorial of flowers at the accident site as well as pictures that Nguyen had drawn for her father.

The girl was taken to Anaheim General Hospital, then to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where she was pronounced dead shortly before 7 a.m., coroner officials said.

Investigators said the intersection where the crash occurred does not have a high rate of pedestrian injuries or fatalities. They were looking for the driver.

No skid marks were found at the scene, indicating the driver did not see the girl, Amormino said.

The driver stopped momentarily in a strip mall before fleeing, Amormino said. The car, which has been spotted in the area by neighbors before, is described as a gray or blue Nissan Z-type vehicle with a loud exhaust system.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff’s Department at (714) 628-7170.