Thread: Residents seethe over hit and run as boy recovers

http://www.ajc.com

Residents seethe over hit and run as boy recovers

By JOHN GHIRARDINI
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/18/06
An 8-year-old Loganville boy whose arm was nearly severed in a hit-and-run accident Sunday night underwent successful surgery Monday.

The boy, whose first name is Daniel, was listed in fair condition late Monday, according to a spokesman for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. His last name was not released.

Police said the child was riding his bicycle near his home in Gwinnett Estates mobile home park off U.S. 78 about 7 p.m. Sunday when a cargo van struck him and dragged him several feet.

Witnesses said the driver got out of his van, helped residents move the child off the road, then got back behind the wheel and began to drive off.

The bicycle was under the van, and the van stopped again about 20 feet farther. The driver got out again, tossed the bike into a yard and drove off.

Witnesses were on the phone to 911 during the incident and were able to give police a tag number. An officer spotted the van less than a mile away and arrested the driver.

The suspect was identified as Adan Torres Garcia, 25, of Lawrenceville. He remained in the Gwinnett jail Monday without bond on two felony charges related to Sunday's incident. He also had an unrelated misdemeanor.

A $5,700 bond was set on additional charges of DUI and no driver's license, according to jail records.

Residents said Garcia lived in the complex or was often at one of the mobile homes. Witnesses said a male passenger also was in the van and helped carry Daniel off the road.

Police could not confirm whether a second man had been in the van; only Garcia was in it when it was pulled over, said police spokesman Cpl. Darren Moloney.

On Monday afternoon, the anger was palpable in the pleasant community of modest doublewides.

"You've got people flying up and down here," said resident Margaret Loyola. "There's a lot of small kids. You're not running a race."

Loyola couldn't believe the driver drove away after striking Daniel.

"That's coldhearted," she said. "Drunk, sober or whatever, you don't hit a kid and do that."

Another resident, Lee Bagwell, said most of the residents are aware of the many children in the neighborhood and are careful about keeping an eye out.

Bagwell's husband, Dan, was one of the residents who called in the tag number to police.

"It could have been my kid," a shaken Dan Bagwell said Monday. "I was running over to [Daniel] while I was giving [police] the tag number. I hope they bury these two guys."

Dan Bagwell said Daniel celebrated a birthday over the weekend.

Doctors didn't yet know how much use Daniel will have of his arm, which was cut severely, or how much rehabilitation he'll have to undergo.

The Bagwells' son Brian, 14, was an eyewitness to the incident as he was out playing Sunday night.

He said the residents were stunned by what took place.

"They didn't believe it really happened," Brian said.

"Everyone was in shock," his mother said.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... itrun.html

Hit-run suspect may be illegal immigrant

By JOHN GHIRARDINI
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/20/06
A Lawrenceville man jailed in connection with a hit-and-run may be in the United States illegally, federal authorities said Wednesday.

Adan Torres Garcia, 25, is being held without bond in the Gwinnett County Detention Center on multiple charges, including two felonies, after being arrested Sunday.

Garcia, a native of Mexico, is accused of driving a van that struck a Loganville boy riding a bicycle in his neighborhood about 7 p.m. Sunday, then fleeing the scene.

The boy's arm was nearly severed. The child — named Daniel — underwent successful surgery early Monday at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. The boy's last name was not released.

Daniel is improving and was listed in good condition Wednesday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said

On Monday evening, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency put a hold on Garcia at the county jail.

"We wouldn't place a detainer on someone who wasn't in this country illegally," said ICE Southeast Region spokesman Temple Black.

Black said the county has first crack at Garcia.

If Garcia is convicted, "he does that first. He has to serve his sentence," Black said. Once he serves any sentences, Gwinnett County will notify ICE, which will "come get him and take the appropriate action, including deportation."

Eyewitnesses said the driver struck Daniel near the boy's Gwinnett Estates home, helped residents pull the boy off the road, then drove off.

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com



No bond for illegal accused of hit and run
04/22/2006

By Andria Simmons
Staff Writer
andria.simmons@gwinnettdailypost.com

LAWRENCEVILLE — A driver accused of running over an 8-year-old boy on a bicycle and then leaving the scene appeared to be drunk when pulled over by police and had an open bottle of beer in his van, according to preliminary hearing testimony.

A magistrate judge on Friday found probable cause to bind charges against 25-year-old Adan Garcia over to Gwinnett County Superior Court. Garcia is being held in the Gwinnett County Detention Center without bond on charges of felony hit and run, DUI, serious injury by vehicle and driving without a license. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Agency also has placed a hold on Garcia because he is an illegal immigrant from Jalisco, Mexico.

Police allege that Garcia drove a white utility van from a family gathering at a park on Easter Sunday to Gwinnett Mobile Home Park in Loganville to pick up a friend. Garcia was driving out of the neighborhood with his friend in the passenger seat when he went over a speed bump and struck an 8-year-old who was riding a bicycle in the street, according to a police report.

The 8-year-old’s arm was nearly severed at the elbow during the accident, but doctors at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite were able to reattach it. Since then the boy, referred to only by his first name, Daniel, has undergone surgery every two to three days to help restore nerve and muscle function in his fingers, said Officer A.J. Morales of the Gwinnett County Police Department.

Morales said she spoke with Daniel on Thursday and he was not talkative about the accident.

“He did say he was riding his bike and the next thing he knew, he was hit,” Morales said.

Dressed in a green prison jumpsuit, Garcia testified briefly through a Spanish translator during the bond phase of the preliminary hearing. He admitted he entered the country illegally four months ago to work as a painter for $9 an hour, despite having been deported once before by federal officials.

Garcia has no criminal history in the United States, according to prosecutors. Three of Garcia’s brothers also live in Gwinnett County, Garcia testified.

His lawyer, David E. Clark, asked the judge to reduce the felony charges to misdemeanors. Clark said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove Garcia was driving drunk when the boy was struck, because there was a 20- to 30-minute time lapse between when Garcia left the scene and when he was pulled over by police.

Clark also said Garcia didn’t cause the accident, pointing out that the boy was bicycling in the middle of the street. Garcia may not have been aware that he struck the boy at first, Clark said, because he had just driven over a speed bump and there was noise from ladders and paint jostling around in the van.

Witnesses told police that after the van struck the 8-year-old, the little boy was dragged about 10 feet. The driver, whom they described as a small-framed Hispanic man, then stopped and got out, watching briefly as family members pulled the boy out from under the van and tended to his wound.

The driver got back into the van and proceeded another 30 feet or so before realizing that the bicycle was still trapped under the car. He and the passenger reportedly stopped again, got out and threw the bicycle into a yard before driving off.

The passenger was not with Garcia when he was pulled over by police near the intersection of Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road and Sugarloaf Parkway in Lawrenceville. Neighbors told investigators the passenger lived in the mobile home community, although police have been unable to identify or locate him.

During an inventory of the van, an open bottle of Corona beer was found inside a tackle box next to the driver’s seat. Morales said Garcia appeared intoxicated, smelled of alcohol and slurred his speech when she spoke with him that day.

While walking into the hospital with police, Garcia dropped his head and said “This was very bad, I (am) going back to Mexico,” Morales said.
Blood and urine tests are still pending to determine if Garcia was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Results could take six to eight weeks, Morales said.

But we are honest hard working people who came here to do work...

and kill and maim and sell drugs and use up social services and trash the usa generally and drive illegally

Get illegals out of here.

we must get more mainstream people- friends, family to realize what is happeneing.. !!

Thosands of news stories over the years of Americans harmed and killed by the actions of ILLEHAL ALIEN INVADERS.

Too bad the surviving victims and their friends and families along with the survivors of those killed can't assemble in front of the White House and Congress and demand answers.