Category Archives: Pomona

One killed, three injured in solo-car crash along Garey Avenue in Pomona

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POMONA — A driver died and his three passengers were hospitalized after a car crashed into a tree along Garey Avenue early Wednesday, officials said.
The dead man’s name was not available pending notification of his family, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner’s Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said. The driver was initially described as appearing to be in his 20s.
The solo-vehicle crash was reported at 4:13 a.m. on Garey Avenue, just north of Lexington Avenue, Pomona police officials said in a written statement.
“Arriving fire and police personnel found four persons in the vehicle,” according to the statement.
“The driver succumbed to his injuries at the scene,” the statement said. “The other three injured persons were transported to a trauma center with moderate to severe injuries.”
A male passenger and a female passenger suffered moderate injuries in the crash, while another female passenger was hospitalized with moderate to severe injuries, officials said.
Officials initially called for two rescue helicopters to fly the injured patients to the hospital, however they were unable to respond due to weather, and the patients were hospitalized by ambulance, Los Angeles County Fire Department officials said.
The Pomona Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Team is investigating the crash.
Police declined to release further details Wednesday, but asked anyone with information to contact the department’s traffic unit.

UPDATED: Brush fire ignites near 60 Freeway in Pomona

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POMONA — Officials issued a Sig Alert for more than an hour on the eastbound 60 Freeway at the 71 Freeway Saturday afternoon as firefighters battled a brush fire that grew to three acres.
The blaze was believed to have begun as a car fire just after 3 p.m. along the side of the freeway that spread to nearby brush, Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Rick Moreno said.
Nine engine crews, four hand crews and several water-dropping aircraft were immediately assigned to the fire, he added.
The blaze was declared extinguished at 4:15 p.m., officials said, though firefighters remained on scene in the late afternoon looking for hot spots and “mopping up” the scene.
No structures were immediately threatened by the fire, Moreno said.

Pomona police seek missing schizophrenic woman

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POMONA — Police sought the public’s help Sunday in tracking down a mentally ill woman woman who wandered away from a care facility during a fire alarm.
Serafin Lewis, 35, was last seen about 7:45 p.m. at the Landmark Medical Center, 2030 N. Garey Avenue, according to Pomona police Officer Arthur Choi.
“Lewis walked away from the facility during a false fire alarm and never returned,” he said.
She suffers from schizophrenia and requires medication, police added,
Anyone with information is asked to contact Pomona police at 909-622-1241.
PHOTO courtesy of the Pomona Police Department

Pomona man accused of kidnapping Covina woman and her son

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COVINA — A man kidnapped his ex-girlfriend and her 4-year-old son Sunday after the woman refused to reconcile with him, police said.
Robelio Veliz, 21, of Pomona was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and child endangerment after authorities recovered the boy unharmed in Pomona, according to Covina police Sgt. Gregg Peterson.
The incident began around 3:30 p.m. When Veliz got into an argument with his ex-girlfriend at her home in 600 block of E. Cienega Avenue, police said.
When the woman refused Veliz’s request to reconcile, he placed her 4-year-old son into the cab of his pickup truck in an attempt to coax the woman to get in, Peterson said in a written statement.
Veliz is not the boy’s father, Sgt. Jim McDonough added.
“The female refused and the suspect began to drive away from the location,” Peterson said. “The mother, in an attempt to get her son back from the suspect, jumped into the bed of the truck.”
With the woman in the bed of the truck, and the child still in the cab with him, Veliz continued driving. He reached the intersection of Grand Avenue and Fairway Lane more than two miles away, just north of the 10 Freeway in West Covina, when the woman jumped out, Peterson said.
The woman, who suffered minor injuries, called 9-1-1 as Veliz continued driving with her son, police said.
Police went to Veliz home in the 700 block of E. Hawthorne Place in Pomona, where they spotted his truck parked outside, Peterson said.
“The child was located inside the suspect’s residence and the suspect was taken into custody as he tried to run out the back of the house,” he said. “The child appears to be uninjured.”
Veliz was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail at the Covina Police Department’s jail pending a scheduled arraignment Tuesday in West Covina Superior Court, officials said.
Witnesses or anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Covina police Detective Anthony Zavala at 626-384-5622, or the Covina Police Department at 626-384-5656.
BOOKING PHOTO of Robelio Veliz courtesy of the Covina Police Department

Gang member sentenced for murdering Pomona boy at his 4th birthday party

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POMONA — A 29-year-old gang member Friday admitted murdering a Pomona boy at his fourth birthday party with a stray bullet intended for a group of teenagers, officials said.
Known Compton gang member Pablo Adame shot and killed 3-year-old Ethan Esparza on Nov. 19, 2006, during a birthday party for the young victim, who would have turned 4 the following day.
“On June 4th, 2012, the trial began, however prior to the trial’s end, suspect Pablo Adame (pleaded) guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life,” Pomona police Detective Jen Turpin said.
According to witness testimony heard at Adame’s preliminary hearing in April of 2011, Adame — who was staying with his grandmother in Pomona after being released from prison — had become angry over taunts and stares he received from teenage tagging crew members when he would pass by the area.
It was a group of teenagers who were the intended targets of the shooting, officials said, and a 16-year-old boy was shot in the hip.
But one of the bullets struck Ethan Esparza in the chest as he played with a toy car his grandfather had just given him as a birthday present, according to testimony.
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Despite an extensive investigation, detectives were left with no leads in the case for three years, Turpin said.
Detectives obtained new information in late 2009, including tips from the public, that led to the identification and arrest of Adame for the murder in 2010.
PHOTOS of Ethan Esparza: courtesy

Car found, driver and “person of interest” sought in fatal Pomona hit-and-run

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POMONA — Police have renewed their call for the public’s help in tracking down a hit-and-run driver who struck and fatally injured a 45-year-old Pomona man last weekend.
A “person of interest” — 27-year-old David Pacheco of Pomona — has been named in the investigation into the collision, which occurred shortly before 11 p.m. June 2 on Mission Boulevard, just west of Park Avenue, Pomona police Sgt. Christian Hsu said in a written statement.
“We believe he has information that will help with the investigation,” the sergeant said.
A 45-year-old Pomona man, whose identity was not released pending confirmation that his family had been notified, was struck by a red sedan, police said. He suffered a severe head injury and was hospitalized in grave condition, while the car that hit him fled the scene.
The victim succumbed to his injuries at a hospital Tuesday, police said.
“Witnesses who have come forward provided information that led officers to the 900 block of James Place where the vehicle was found,” Hsu said.
The vehicle believed to have been involved in the crash is a red, 1993 Toyota Tercel. But the driver remained at-large.
Anyone with information was asked to call the Pomona police traffic investigators at 909-620-2081, or the Pomona Police Department at 909-622-1241.

Man gravely injured, driver sought, in Pomona hit-and-run

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POMONA — Police are hunting for a driver who fled the scene after striking a 44-year-old man on Mission Boulevard, leaving him hospitalized Sunday with grave injuries.
The collision took place just before 11 p.m. Saturday on mission Boulevard, just west of Park Avenue, Pomona police Sgt. Christian Hsu said.
Officers responding to reports of a man lying in the roadway found the man suffering from a severe head injury and determined he had been struck by a car, which fled the scene, the sergeant said.
“A witness described a 1990s, small, red sedan, possibly a Toyota Corolla, as being the vehicle that struck the pedestrian,” Hsu said. It was last seen driving east on Mission Boulevard.
The car likely has damage to its front end, and possible its windshield, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Pomona police traffic investigators at 909-620-2081.

Jury deadlocks on death penalty for Azusa gang members in witness’ murder

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A Los Angeles jury was unable to reach a death penalty verdict for two gang members convicted of executing an Azusa woman nearly three years ago in retaliation for her testimony in a fellow gang member’s trial for murder, officials said Thursday.

Azusa 13 gang members Rodney Coronel Perez, 31, of Covina and Ramiro Juan Alvarez, 27, of Azusa were convicted April 17 of the May 11, 2009 shooting death of 24-year-old Roberta Marie Romero in Pomona, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Jane Robison said. The jury also found true special allegations of murdering a witness and killing for the benefit of a street gang.

After two weeks of deliberation on whether the killers should be sentenced to death or life imprisonment, the jury came back Wednesday afternoon and said they were deadlocked, Robison said.

The jurors voted 8-4 in favor of life in prison without the possibility of parole for Ramiro, and 8-4 in favor of death penalty for Perez, officials said.

The District Attorney’s office is going to retry the penalty phase, Robison said.

Alvarez and Perez were ordered back to Los Angeles Superior Court June 15 for a pre-trial hearing in the second penalty phase trial, officials said.

The jury deliberated for 20 days before convicting the men of murder on April 17, Robison said…

FULL STORY

Officials identify Hacienda Heights man killed in crash on the 57 Freeway in Pomona

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POMONA — Authorities Wednesday released the name of a 29-year-old Hacienda Heights man killed after his car plowed into the rear of a slowing moving Caltrans struck on the 57 Freeway in Pomona.
Brian Street died at the scene of the crash, which took place just before 2 p.m. on the northbound 57 Freeway, just north of Temple Avenue, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Lt. Larry Dietz said. His city was not listed at the coroner’s office, however California Highway Patrol officials described Street as a Hacienda Heights resident.
A Caltrans sweeper truck was working on the center median, as two black-and-white CHP cars provided traffic control, CHP Officer Kerri Rivas said. A Caltrans dump truck was in the fast lane, moving at about 5 mph.
Street was driving a 1993 Toyota Corolla north in the fast lane at an unknown speed, the officer said.
“For unknown reasons, the front of the Toyota collided with the right rear of the Caltrans four-yard dump truck,” Rivas said.
The on-scene CHP officers called for backup and performed CPR on the badly injured driver, officials said. Firefighters ultimately pronounced the man dead at the scene.
Any witnesses to the crash were asked to contact the Baldwin Park office of the CHP at 626-338-1164, or after hours, the Los Angeles Communications Center at 323-982-4900.

Officials identify Pomona man killed in Diamond Bar crash

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DIAMOND BAR – Coroner’s officials Thursday released the name of Pomona killed in a car crash on Brea Canyon Road.
Sung Choe, 53, died at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton shortly after the 7:25 a.m. crash on Brea Canyon Road, near the Orange County-Los Angeles County border, according to Orange County coroner’s officials.
He was driving a Honda Civic southbound on Brea Canyon Road when he was struck head-on by a Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck being driven by a 19-year-old Murrieta woman, California Highway Patrol officials said in a written statement.
The truck had drifted to the right shoulder and struck a guard rail before bouncing back toward the center of the road, officials said.
The pickup truck sideswiped another car being driven by a Rowland Heights woman before crossing into opposing traffic lanes and into the path of Choe’s car, according to the CHP.
The Murrieta woman suffered minor injuries in the collision, and the Rowland Heights woman was unhurt, officials added.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation, and no arrests had been made.