A 22-year-old Santa Ana woman was due in court Monday but not for being the driver, as police suspect, for a Nov. 29 hit-and-run collision that killed a man.
Jorge Lopez-Lobato, 35, of Santa Ana, was on foot around 1:40 a.m. when he crossed northbound First Street mid-block near Bristol Street, where he was hit by a speeding blue Honda Accord with tinted windows that was being driven west on First, according to Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, the Santa Ana Police spokesman.
As the Honda continued to Bristol, headed south and then on its way away from the scene without checking on Lopez-Lobato, witnesses called police and stayed with the injured man until Orange County Fire Authority paramedics arrived, said Bertagna, adding that the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
“[W]e are the only family he had here in California,” Gaby Lopez writes of her “loving brother” on a GoFundMe.com page aimed at raising funeral expenses. “My parents are in Mexico and we are hoping to send him to his place of birth, which is Michoacan, Mexico. … May God Bless you all for your help.”
In a month, $1,365 was raised toward a $6,000 goal.
As the fund-raising continued, Santa Ana cops kept working the case. First, they put out a photo of the type of car that fled the scene.
That may have helped produce a tip given to Orange County Crime Stoppers that sent police to a body shop in Bloomington, a small town along the 10 freeway in San Bernardino County between Fontana and Colton.
Last Wednesday, officers tracked down “the hit-and-run vehicle,” which had sustained damage “consistent with the collision,” including missing parts that were found at the crash scene, Bertagna said.
Belen Guadalupe Sicairos, the Honda Accord’s registered owner, was arrested at her home Wednesday on suspicion of hit-and-run. Originally held in lieu of $50,000 bail, she has since been released, according to Orange County Jail records that listed her occupation as dental technician.
Sicairos had a hearing scheduled Monday in relation to an Oct. 7 citation for failing to obey a sign for preferential lanes.
