17-year-old riding scooter killed by hit-and-run driver in Long Beach
A teenage boy riding a scooter was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver whom investigators believe was also drunk early Sunday morning in Long Beach.
Police were dispatched to the intersection of Orange Avenue and South Street at around 12:40 p.m., according to the Long Beach Police Department.
Upon arrival, they learned that the victim, a 17-year-old boy, was struck by a 2012 Cadillac that traveling northbound on Orange Avenue as he road north on South Street.
Instead of stopping, the driver of the SUV continued to drive north before crashing into an apartment building at 6100 Orange Avenue, police said.
The boy was rushed to a nearby hospital where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
Late Sunday, family members identified the victim as Brandon Cabrera.
He was on his way home from the store with two friends when it happened, says Aniyah Diaz, who was with Cabrera when he was hit.
"We just heard the sound and we knew so we just started running, we were like, 'Brandon!' ... screaming and crying and we just seen him laid there on the floor," Diaz said, noting that she was walking on the sidewalk while Cabrera rode his scooter in the street near cars parked on the side of the road. "I was with him and then the next thing you know, one second away, and he's gone. I'm never gonna see him again."
Friends and family members of Cabrera gathered at the corner where he was killed. They say that he was estranged from his mother and dropped out of high school to work as a roofer so he could provide for his brothers and sisters.
"He was such a loving boy. Every room he went in he filled the room with life — so joyful," said Britney Chacon, Cabrera's cousin. "It makes me angry and more devastated because when you're under the influence you're not only putting your life in danger you're putting other people around you life at risk."
Police say that after crashing into Cabrera and then the apartment, the suspect fled from the area on foot before returning a short time later. She has been identified as 35-year-old Compton resident Karen Mativa.
She has been booked on suspicion of driving under the influence, hit-and-run resulting in death or injury, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and assault with a deadly weapon with force. She is being held in lieu of $130,00 bail.
Investigators have determined that both sped and impaired driving are possible factors in the deadly crash.
Anyone with further information is asked to contact LBPD's Collision Investigation Detail at (562) 570-7355.