After sunset Sunday, an immigrant couple set out down Hollywood Boulevard on foot, headed from work to their nearby apartment.
As they walked hand in hand, a former Marine out drinking with a friend steered his car onto the boulevard. Sergio Delgado, 29, was allegedly fleeing police who had tried to stop him for reckless driving.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, July 18, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 55 words Type of Material: Correction
Crosswalk deaths: An article in Thursday's California section about the deaths of two pedestrians struck and killed in Hollywood by a driver fleeing police reported that an LAPD detective said no alcoholic containers were found in the driver's car. Police have since said that a bottle containing alcohol was found under one of the seats.
Cecilia Diaz Vasquez, 32, and Pedro Davila, 40, stepped into the crosswalk at Wilcox Avenue about 8:45 p.m. just as Delgado ran a red light.
In a moment, the couple were dead. It took hours for officials to identify the bodies, and in the days that followed, details have emerged about them and the man charged with killing them.
Davila started the day like many others since he and Vasquez crossed illegally into the U.S. from Mexico a year ago. They came to earn money to support their three children, whom they left with grandparents in their hometown in the Mexican state of Veracruz.
On Sunday morning, Davila walked from his spare studio apartment on Wilcox to his job at Combo's Pizza & Deli in the 6700 block of Hollywood Boulevard. He worked his shift cleaning the kitchen and restaurant, owner George Comboianu said.
About 8 p.m., Vasquez met Davila at the pizzeria and they used a cellphone to call their children in Martinez de La Torre.
The children had been excited to hear from their parents, said a relative reached Wednesday in Mexico. Monserrat Arely Davila, 15, Diego Davila, 14, and Guadalupe Davila, 8, often cried for their parents to return home, family members said. Phone calls were rare because of the cost.
The parents and children talked for several minutes Sunday night. The youngsters were excited about a visit their parents had planned for this month. Then the line abruptly failed.
It was 8:27 p.m. The children waited by the phone, hoping for them to call back. But their parents had left the pizzeria to walk home.
Los Angeles police officers saw Delgado about 8:45 p.m. and began following him as he accelerated and ignored several traffic signals. They suspected he was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Delgado, a married father with a young son, was born in Guadalajara and came to California as a child, according to a relative. He was a graduate of John Marshall High School who joined the Marines at 19, his sister said.
He was convicted of driving under the influence in 2003 and of illegally driving in a bus lane in 2006.
