Friends, Strangers Distraught After Car Hit 3 on Sidewalk

Friends and co-workers grieved Sunday over the deaths of a toddler and a woman run over by a car that lurched onto the sidewalk in Laguna Hills. The child’s mother also was struck and remains hospitalized.

The driver had not been charged pending a sheriff’s probe, and investigators have not yet offered any explanation for her action.

Two-year-old Johana Patricia Barrientos and Libia Munoz, 41, died at the scene Saturday night when a silver Mercedes E320 driven by an unidentified woman jumped a curb, then ran them down along Hon Avenue near Alicia Parkway, a sheriff’s spokesman said. Johana’s mother, Sandra Barrientos Azarias, 31, was in critical condition Sunday at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

Farid Khanlou, owner of a produce market on Hon Avenue, heard the accident and dashed out of his store. He described the carnage on the darkened street and said he was immediately drawn to the baby stroller, which lay mangled.

“The scene was so bad I cried,” Khanlou said Sunday.

He called 911 and tried to calm the driver of the Mercedes, a woman in a pink suit who was hysterical.

“She was saying, ‘I didn’t see them,’ ” he said.

Flor Pedroza, a good friend of Sandra Barrientos who visited the mother at the hospital Sunday morning, said she worked with Barrientos for six years and Munoz for two years at Horizon Boarding Care, a facility for seniors in Mission Viejo. Barrientos and Munoz lived at the home, she said.

According to Pedroza, the two women ended their shift at 6 p.m. and walked to Pic ‘N’ Save on Alicia Parkway to shop. The accident occurred when they were returning home, about 8:35 p.m. Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Doan said the victims had just finished crossing the street when they were hit.

On Sunday, a sobbing Pedroza said she happened upon the scene and saw Munoz’s covered body taken away in an ambulance but did not learn until almost two hours later that her two friends and the child had been struck.

“I never imagined it was them. I’ve known the baby since she was born. It never occurred to me that it was my friends and the baby who were hit,” she said.

Pedroza recalled Barrientos and her husband, Adonis, doting on Johana. The husband works at a board-and-care facility in Los Angeles, she said.

Friends of the victims said Johana was becoming trilingual, learning to speak English, her mother’s Spanish and her father’s Tagalog.

Doan said Barrientos was pushing her daughter in the stroller and walking with Munoz when they were struck. Pedroza said Barrientos is from El Salvador and Munoz immigrated from Colombia, where her 19-year-old son, Julian, lives.

“I talked to him this morning and told him his mother was dead. He was in shock, asking, ‘How can that be?’ ” she said.

Earlier Saturday, a cheerful Munoz had spoken about her plans to send for her son, Pedroza said.

“She was happily telling us that she was almost able to afford to send for him,” said Pedroza. “She was almost done paying off her bills and had been putting money away to pay for his air fare. She talked about how much she missed him and was looking forward to the day when they could be together again.”

Pedroza said that when she visited Barrientos at the hospital early Sunday, the mother still did not know that her daughter had been killed.

“She was barely awake but recognized me. She kept asking about Johana, but I told her everything was fine and to rest,” said Pedroza.

Pedroza said Barrientos was informed later in the day that her daughter had died.

Sheriff’s spokesman Doan declined to identify the driver of the Mercedes because the investigation was continuing. He said drugs and alcohol were not a factor and that the driver has not been charged. He said a 5-year-old boy was in the car with the driver but was not sure whether they are related.

A doctor driving by pulled over and tried to keep the little girl alive.

“He was giving her mouth-to-mouth [resuscitation] and brought her back once,” said Khanlou, the merchant. “He was doing everything he could.”

A memorial, with teddy bears, several flower bouquets and photos of the victims, was created at the scene Sunday by distraught friends and coworkers. Some expressed frustration and anger, calling for better lighting on the street.

“It’s very dark here,” said Massoud Zadeh, owner of a Persian restaurant nearby, arguing for a lower speed limit.

Investigators said they are not sure whether darkness played a role in the accident and were still trying to determine the cause on Sunday.

Charlene LaBelle, Pedroza’s niece, stopped by the scene with flowers on Sunday.

“They were both really sweet, hard-working people trying to get ahead,” LaBelle said. “But I guess God had a different plan for them.”