Driver Who Fled Scene Sought in the Death of 5-Year-Old Child

PACOIMA —  Investigators sought a hit-and-run driver Monday in the death of a 5-year-old boy over the weekend, and the child’s parents faced the possibility that their nine other children--now with foster parents--may never be returned to them.

Police suspect Reynaldo Chavez Manso, 21, was driving a red 1983 Toyota that hit Salvador Sanchez on Van Nuys Boulevard on Sunday and kept going.

Salvador had just celebrated his dad’s birthday.

“He gave me his school pictures,” said the father, Javier Sanchez, in an interview Monday. “He wrote on the back of it: ‘Happy birthday Daddy, I love you.’ ”

The boy was in an unmarked crosswalk, returning from a gas station with his 11-year-old brother after putting air in the tires of his bicycle. Salvador died at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center later. The older brother was unharmed.

“It wasn’t like he was jaywalking,” said Det. R.S. Uber of LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division. “But, of course, he had some responsibility to make sure the intersection was clear.

“Since we don’t have the other side of the story, it’s almost impossible to affix positive blame.” What is clear, however, is that a tragedy became a criminal investigation when the driver failed to stop.

Police said a witness followed the driver to a nearby house and confronted him.

“The witness approached [the driver] and told him that he had hit a child,” Uber said. “The driver told him not to tell anybody.”

The accident is the second time Javier and his wife, Lozoya Leticia Sanchez, 32, have lost a young son to such misfortune. Their 4-year-old son, Heriberto, lies in a bed at Pacifica of the Valley Hospital deep in a coma since he nearly choked to death two years ago. Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services placed Heriberto’s nine brothers and sisters in foster care after he choked on food while playing with his sister, Javier Sanchez said.

The children were all home Sunday for their weekly scheduled visits and were celebrating their father’s 40th birthday.

The two boys crossed the intersection a quarter a mile from their home, a converted garage, while their parents were shopping for a birthday cake. They didn’t have permission to leave the house, Javier Sanchez said.

The parents said county officials had planned to return some of their children in the next month or so.

“Salvador was happy about it,” said Sanchez, a gardener. “All the kids were happy--they were counting the days--now I don’t think we’ll ever get them back.”

Sanchez said his son was a happy boy who enjoyed listening to the radio and dancing. “He wasn’t shy at all.”

The Sanchezes said they don’t blame the driver for their son’s death, nor do they fault their 11-year-old boy who led his younger brother across the street. Sanchez said the older boy is wracked with guilt over his brother’s death.

“Who’s to blame?” Sanchez said. “Maybe us. We weren’t here. We didn’t know he went out. But [the driver] must pay for what he did. Even if I hit an animal--a dog, I would stop and check if it was OK.”

Police said Manso did not own the car. Neither the car nor the suspect had been located.

Investigators said Manso is a Latino man in his mid-20s, with short black hair, weighing about 125 pounds and standing about 5 feet, 7 inches tall. Police believe he has friends near the accident scene.

Any intersection unless specifically marked otherwise is legally a crosswalk, according to LAPD Valley Traffic Sgt. John Amott.

LAPD officers issued more than 21,000 citations last year to motorists and pedestrians for violations of pedestrian safety.