Drag racers face murder charges Two men...

Drag racers face murder charges

Two men accused of killing a Huntington Beach woman during an

alleged street race in May will face second-degree murder charges, a

judge decided in a preliminary hearing on Monday.

Margaret Leyva, 74, died almost instantly after a car driven by

25-year-old Julio Trujillo hit Leyva head-on in Santa Ana at around 1

p.m. May 1, Santa Ana police said. Trujillo was allegedly drag racing

his Ford Mustang against 22-year-old Rodrigo Gomez’s Acura Integra

when Trujillo lost control, crossed the yellow divider and hit

Leyva’s Volkswagen Golf.

Trujillo was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and

reckless driving as he was being treated in the hospital for multiple

fractures. The Acura fled the scene, and Gomez was arrested by Santa

Ana police on July 30.

Trujillo and Gomez didn’t know each other, and apparently decided

to race after exchanging looks at a red light, Santa Ana police said.

Police estimated that Trujillo’s Mustang was traveling about 85

mph when it lost control and killed Leyva.

Boy hit by truck

on Slater dies

A 9-year-old Huntington Beach resident died last week of injuries

incurred when he and two others were hit by a pickup truck on Nov.

18.

Jimmy Pham needed emergency surgery after the accident, but was

taken off life support at UCI Medical Center and died at 10:45 a.m.

Nov. 26, Lt. Janet Perez said.

Jimmy’s mother, An Le, was released from Western Medical Center

after the accident. Le’s 18-month-old daughter, whom Le was pushing

in a stroller when they were hit, is still in the hospital, but is

expected to recover from her internal injuries, Perez said.

A 45-year-old Huntington Beach resident driving the truck stopped

after hitting the three, who were walking in or near the crosswalk on

Slater Avenue, Lt. Ed Deuel said.

Police haven’t made any arrests, and the case is under

investigation. Police ask that anyone who saw the accident, which

happened at about 5:20 p.m. on Slater Avenue near Geraldine Lane,

call investigator Tom Wood at (714) 536-5670.

Two arrested on robbery suspicion

Police arrested two Los Angeles residents on suspicion of armed

robbery on Friday about 30 minutes after one someone jumped the

counter and took cash from several tellers at a bank on Edinger

Avenue.

Jason Reed allegedly waited in a getaway car outside the

California National Bank in the 7200 block until Vance Bahan came out

with an undisclosed amount of cash, Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Greg

Moore said. A bank employee followed the car long enough to write

down the vehicle’s license plate number.

Police issued a countywide bulletin with a description of the car

and suspects. Officer Gary Faust spotted a car matching the

description traveling north on the San Diego Freeway near Seal Beach

Boulevard at 1:52 p.m. and arrested the occupants on Seal Beach

Boulevard. The Los Alamitos and Seal Beach police departments

assisted in the arrests, Moore said.

Witnesses identified Bahan and Reed as the suspects, and police

reportedly recovered the cash from their rented Nissan, Moore said.

Two arrests made for armed robberies

Police arrested a man on suspicion of robbing two Huntington Beach

businesses at gunpoint on Tuesday after an employee at a Denny’s

identified the suspect.

Daniel Patrick Sullivan, 25, of Anaheim Hills reportedly asked the

Denny’s employee for change at 11:25 p.m., then pulled a handgun and

demanded all of the money after the employee opened the register, Lt.

J.B. Hume said. She called police after the man fled, and police

caught Sullivan near the Denny’s in the 18400 block of Beach

Boulevard.

An employee at a business in the 800 block of Talbert Avenue

called police at 5:58 p.m. after having been robbed in a similar

fashion, police said. She said a woman with bright red hair was with

the man who pulled the gun, and that she was tied up after they took

the money in a small blue pouch that was in the register. Police

found an empty blue leather pouch at Denny’s, Hume said.

Police later arrested a woman matching the first victim’s

description, and believe they can connect her to the 5:58 p.m.

robbery, Hume said. The woman was arrested on suspicion of a drug

offense. The description of the male suspect by the victim in the

Talbert incident closely matches Sullivan, Hume said.

“We’re fairly certain he robbed both places,” Hume said.

Escapee arrested

in Huntington

Huntington Beach police on Monday arrested a man who had escaped

from a Northern California jail the day before.

Police received a call of a suspicious man hanging out by a garage

on Alabama Street at around 3 a.m., Lt. J.B. Hume said. When officers

contacted the suspect, 35-year-old Paul Lupien, they found he had

been reported missing from Salinas Valley Prison about 15 hours

earlier.

Lupien had been serving a nearly four-year sentence for grand

theft, burglary and forgery. Huntington Beach police returned Lupien

to the prison in Soledad, about 35 miles south of Salinas.

Emergency plan

to help seniors

The city’s Emergency Services and Senior Services departments held

a drill on Tuesday to practice assisting seniors in need of help

during an emergency.

The Senior At-Risk Emergency Drill was held at Seniors’ Outreach

and Rodgers Seniors’ Centers.

A team of staff and volunteers joined forces to set up a command

post to help at-risk seniors in an emergency.

There are about 60 seniors in Huntington Beach defined as at-risk

by the Seniors’ Outreach social workers. At-risk seniors, who often

don’t have family living locally, are all delivered regular meals and

transportation to help them live alone.