Girl Riding Bicycle Fatally Struck
The Orange County Coroner Division identified a 13-year-old girl who was fatally struck while riding her bicycle near a Santa Ana school on Monday.
Priscilla Vallejo was riding her bike on Center Street through the Edinger Avenue intersection — right in front of Diamond Elementary School– at approximately 7:30 a.m. when she was by hit by a box truck in the area, according to Jeffrey Smith, a watch commander with the Santa Ana Police Department.
The intersection is also across the street from another campus, Gerald P. Carr Intermediate
School.
Priscilla was pronounced dead at 7:42 a.m., according to the Coroner Department’s website. She died just four days short of her 14th birthday, the record showed.
Video from the scene showed a bicycle lodged beneath the unmarked box truck, which was next to a sidewalk directly in front of the elementary school.
Multiple Santa Ana police units remained there hours after the collision as investigators tried to determine its cause.
The unidentified driver was an employee of the Santa Ana Unified School District. He remained at the scene and was cooperating with police, according to Smith, who added the man was distraught over the collision.
On Monday afternoon, Santa Ana Unified School District Deputy Superintendent Dr. Stefanie Phillips released a statement in connection the crash, saying the safety of students is the district’s “top priority,” and also calling it “deeply troubling.”
“Our crisis team of trained responders has been dispatched to Carr Intermediate and Diamond Elementary Schools, and counseling services are being provided to students,”
Phillips wrote.
The statement continued: “Santa Ana Police Department is investigating the accident. We continue to cooperate fully with the Santa Ana Police Department.”
An investigation into the crash was ongoing.
pert 2
A 73-year-old man was hospitalized in grave condition Saturday morning after being struck by a vehicle while riding a bicycle on a street in Laguna Woods, authorities said.
Deputies responded about 5:57 a.m. to Moulton Parkway, near Santa Maria Avenue (map), after a bicyclist heading southbound was hit by a 2006 Honda Civic traveling in the same direction, a news release from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.
According to a preliminary investigation and information from the driver of the car, the crash occurred near the No. 3 lane on Moulton, the release said. The driver stopped, called 911 and rendered aid to the victim until deputies and paramedics arrived, the Sheriff’s Department said.
The injured man, who authorities initially said was 72, was then transported to a hospital.
Investigators do not believe the driver was under the influence at the time of the incident.
All southbound lanes on a section of Moulton were closed for about two hours while the department’s Major Accident Reconstruction Team collected evidence at the scene.
Anyone with information or who witnessed the collision was asked to call the department at 714-647-7000 or 949-425-1860. Anonymous tips may be submitted to Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-847-6227 .
Daniel A. Gibalevich
DAG Law Firm
