South LA Street Vendor Killed By Driver In Stolen Amazon Prime Truck Remembered
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - Pieces of glass still littered the sidewalk near 48th and South Main Streets in South Los Angeles where a 37-year-old man who stole an Amazon Prime truck crashed into a building Thursday, killing a street vendor and injuring two other people.
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A small memorial was growing on the sidewalk for Jose Rangel, the street vendor who was struck and killed.
Roberto Ramirez, a fellow street vendor, said he'd known Rangel for about two years, and that the victim had just returned to work Thursday after being gone a few months.
"He had just come back from Mexico because he went to go see his family, his mom, to help her with her home, and yesterday, he had just come back to work," Ramirez said in Spanish.
Police said Rangel was simply working just after 2 p.m. when the Amazon truck came barreling toward him and two other people. Rangel was the only one killed.
The suspect, 37-year-old Christian Ramos Sanchez, stole the truck about a half mile from the crash scene, while the driver of the Amazon Prime truck was delivering a package.
"It's not fair that this happened to him, especially when you realize it was because of a criminal, because I can't call that person anything but that," Ramirez said in Spanish.
Next to the flowers and candles making up the small memorial for Rangel were boxes of little trinkets and supplies, stuff that Rangel would sell, when he was working, trying to make a living for his family.