Traffic Accidents Los Angeles

A motorist was arrested by Los Angeles police Monday after he reportedly drove his car through a security barricade at the Getty Museum and crashed into a stairwell before being detained by security officials. The man, identified as Donald Romps, was being treated late Monday at UCLA Medical Center for head injuries received in the incident, said Sgt. Bobby Smith, watch commander at the LAPD's West Los Angeles station. The museum was not open Monday.

Residents at the Woodlake Apartments in the Crenshaw district were stunned and somber Wednesday, one day after three teenagers from that complex were involved in a tragic auto accident that killed one and left another charged with vehicular manslaughter. "It has really taken a toll on the people here who are acquainted with the kids," said Ethel Porter, a longtime resident of the apartment complex in the 3700 block of Chesapeake Avenue.

As grief-stricken relatives of the dead and the accused watched, a prosecutor repeatedly urged jurors Monday to put aside their emotions and rely on the law to decide the fate of a drunk driver who killed a 26-year-old woman while rushing his pregnant wife to the hospital early Christmas morning. It doesn't matter that his wife was in labor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Shari Silverman said during closing arguments in a Van Nuys courtroom.

As grief-stricken relatives of both the dead and the accused watched, a prosecutor repeatedly urged jurors Monday to put aside their emotions and rely on the law to decide the fate of a drunk driver who killed a 26-year-old woman while rushing his pregnant wife to the hospital early Christmas morning. It doesn't matter that his wife was in labor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Shari Silverman said during closing arguments.

A speeding driver veered off the Foothill Freeway to his death Tuesday, as his car landed upside-down on a residential street, authorities said. The 29-year-old man was driving a Chevrolet Corvair east on the Foothill Freeway about 2:30 p.m. when his car swerved off and tumbled 200 feet down an embankment, said California Highway Patrol Officer P. Kimball. The car came to a rest on its top on Paxton Street near Foothill Boulevard, said Officer Karen Faciane.

A 75-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man were killed Saturday morning in separate accidents, police said. The woman, on her regular, early morning walk in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles, was struck by a hit-and-run driver at Western Avenue and 2nd Street. Authorities said Yun S. Yoon was crossing Western about 5:40 a.m. when she was struck by a southbound car. Witnesses described the driver as a light-skinned man and the car as a two-door, light-blue Dodge or Chevrolet.

Seven months after Michelle Pagan was killed by a drunk driver who was rushing his pregnant wife to the hospital early Christmas morning, a jury Tuesday convicted him of vehicular manslaughter. The panel agreed with his defense lawyer that Roberto Perez was not guilty of the more serious crime of gross vehicular manslaughter, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, six more years than the maximum term he now faces. "He wasn't a drunken guy going out of a bar to drive home. He wasn't reckless.

A 41-year-old North Hollywood man was killed Sunday night when the motorcycle he was riding struck a van on the eastbound Ventura Freeway, authorities said. The man and a friend were riding motorcycles in the freeway's right lane near De Soto Avenue about 10:30 p.m. when the accident occurred, said California Highway Patrol Officer T.J. Roman. The deceased man's name was not released pending notification of his family.

The driver of an ice cream truck was arrested on suspicion of murder Saturday after a traffic accident in which an 11-year-old boy riding in a minivan was killed, authorities said. Police believe Aristidi N. Arevalo, 51, was driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident. Arevalo was to be booked after being treated at a local hospital, said Lt. Steven Allen of the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Traffic Division.

The driver of an ice cream truck was arrested on suspicion of murder Saturday after his truck hit a minivan in the mid-San Fernando Valley, killing an 11-year-old boy, authorities said. Police said they believe that Aristidi N. Arevalo, 51, was driving drunk. He was to be booked Saturday night after being treated at a hospital, said Lt. Steven Allen of the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Traffic Division. Oliver Gallegos of Mission Hills was pronounced dead at the scene.