Car Kills Two Toddlers on Sidewalk

The mangled blue stroller lay in a heap by the sidewalk Friday, the vestige of a stroll in the park turned to tragedy.

The families had been on an outing at Echo Park, two small children and their parents walking down Alvarado Street on a sunny spring afternoon.

Then came the crash, the terrifying sound of a car out of control. The Honda came careening toward the mothers and their children, striking a light pole, then a fire hydrant and, finally, the boy and the girl.

It all happened in an instant, this undoing of lives.

According to police, a cream-and-blue-colored van was traveling north on Alvarado Street when the driver attempted to make a left turn.

A brown Honda was traveling in the other direction, and the van struck the car, sending it spinning out of control and directly at the strollers.

The father of the little girl, identified as 2-year-old Luisa Cornejo of Los Angeles, picked up his daughter and raced her to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. An hour after the accident, she died in the emergency room.

The 3-year-old boy, Edwin Camacho, also was taken to the hospital, where he died Friday night, hospital officials said.

The 24-year-old driver of the Honda was taken to Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center for treatment of neck and back pain, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said, and “was emotionally shaken up.”

Police also said the driver of the van fled the scene on foot but returned 45 minutes later.

He was identified as Vincente Perez, 43, of Los Angeles. Officer John Cox, a police spokesman, said he had been arrested on vehicular manslaughter charges and that his bond was set at $25,000.

*

Times staff writer J. Michael Kennedy contributed to this story.