Girl Dies After Car Hits Her, Grandmother

A 5-year-old girl was fatally injured and her grandmother badly hurt Wednesday as they tried to cross First Street in Santa Ana and were struck by a car.

A 1 1/2-year-old girl, a passenger in the car, suffered minor head injuries and was hospitalized.

Driver Pamela Anne Kowalski, 25, of Santa Ana told Police Investigator Tony Duran that she saw the woman and child seconds before her Ford Pinto station wagon hit them, “but it was just too late to brake.� Kowalski was not cited.

Santa Ana Police Lt. Jack Nelson said the grandmother, Antonia Miranda, 55, of Santa Ana was walking 5-year-old Danicia Cortez home from Lowell Elementary School at about 3 p.m. when they apparently tried to cross First Street in the middle of the street rather than at a crosswalk.

Kowalski was traveling east on First half a block east of Flower Street when her station wagon hit the pair, Nelson said.

Danicia was taken to Western Medical Center, where she died of her injuries Wednesday afternoon. Miranda suffered a serious head injury and was also taken to Western Medical Center, where she was reported in critical condition Wednesday night.

Police officers said Kowalski had three children in the back seat of her car when the accident occurred. One of those children, Kowalski’s daughter, Alona Kakala, was taken to Coastal Community Hospital in Santa Ana with minor head injuries.

Two teen-agers playing tennis at Santa Ana High School near the accident scene heard the crash. “All we heard was a big boom,� said Gina Costello, 16. “When we looked, the lady was just lying in the road.�