Drivers in Fatal Norwalk Crash May Be Charged

Two drivers suspected of being involved in a street race in Norwalk could face manslaughter charges in the death of a 63-year-old woman who was making a left turn in front of them, sheriff’s deputies said Monday.

The Sunday evening crash on Alondra Boulevard also left seven teenagers and young adults hospitalized. All seven were inside one of the two cars that witnesses said were racing, authorities said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Cummings said In Cha Kim of Cerritos died about seven hours after the crash, in which her 1989 Toyota Camry flipped over and struck a fire hydrant.

Investigators believe the other cars were traveling at least 60 mph in a 40-mph zone, Cummings said.

Two witnesses told authorities they heard the drivers gunning their engines and saw them trying to pass each other.

The case will be turned over to the district attorney’s office for possible charges, including manslaughter and speeding, deputies said.

The drivers were not arrested or cited. They were identified as Julio Esparza, 21, of Los Angeles, and Hugo Limon, 20, of Bellflower.

The conditions of the injured victims, who range in age from about 13 to 20, were not available. All are expected to survive, Cummings said.

Kim was turning left into an apartment complex at Gard Avenue from the westbound lanes of Alondra Boulevard. “My heart stopped,” said apartment manager Denise Thiel, who heard the accident about 7 p.m. “I ran outside and somebody was screaming, ‘Get a cellphone and call an ambulance!’ ”

Aura Najar, 22, a resident of the complex, said bystanders tried to rescue trapped people as water from the broken hydrant gushed over the wreckage.

“My uncle pulled a girl out and put her on the grass,” she said. “I was trying to keep her awake. She couldn’t talk. It was horrible.”

Gary Belo, 51, who lives half a block away, was watching baseball on TV when he heard “a smack that sounded kind of like a cracked bat.”

He walked outside, then started running when he saw the vehicles in the intersection about 500 feet away.

“These were big guys, trying to lift the cars and pull people out,” Belo said of the frantic rescue efforts. One of the cars “looked like it was going 60 mph and hit a brick wall.”

Cummings said Esparza, driving a gray 1994 Acura, and Limon, in a black 2000 Honda Civic, were eastbound on Alondra near Cerritos College.

“We haven’t had any problem with street racing in Norwalk, and I’ve been here 15 years,” Cummings said. “We try to do proactive enforcement. It can pop up anywhere.”

Kim will not be deemed at fault in the crash because “when you’re making a left turn, you expect [oncoming] cars to be coming at a reasonable speed,” Cummings said.

He said it was unclear whether one or both of the oncoming vehicles hit Kim’s car. One of them smashed into a tree in the median about 80 feet down the street, shearing it off at the base, said investigators, who spent more than an hour Monday carefully measuring more than 70 feet of skid marks.

All three vehicles were totaled. Deputies were looking into whether the Honda and Acura had been modified for racing. One of them appeared to have special air filters and decals suggesting it was “souped up,” Cummings said.

Gard Avenue residents Shirley and Bud Egildson said speeding has long been a problem in the quiet neighborhood.

“Look at those skid marks over there,” Shirley Egildson said, pointing to rubber imprints in front of her house. “We’ve asked the city to put speed bumps on Gard. I used to walk Alondra a lot, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen accidents over there.”