Hit-and-Run Death of Girl, 3, Prompts Plea for Caution

By MEGAN GARVEY

July 24, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Near the spot on a Stanton street where 3-year-old Kathy Ducksworth died Friday afternoon, neighborhood children gathered to talk about witnessing the hit-and-run.

Kathy was struck and killed while crossing the 8900 block of Pacific Avenue, a residential area where dozens of children on summer break play outside. The chocolate-eyed little girl was holding her 6-year-old brother’s hand when it happened. He was not injured.

“They see all these children out here and they still don’t slow down,” said the girl’s grief-stricken mother, Gloria Ducksworth. “And that’s not right. It’s not right.”

A white Dodge van hit the little girl so hard, witnesses said it sounded like two cars colliding. The driver of the van fled the scene, abandoning the vehicle a few blocks away. A warrant for his arrest on suspicion of fleeing the scene of an accident had been issued, and authorities were still searching for the driver Friday evening.

“It’s a terrible thing,” said Lt. Hector Rivera, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “It’s hard to believe someone would strike a child and leave.”

Friday night, the victim’s mother was among many in the small community calling for a change--anything to slow people down--on a street they say has been dangerous for some time.

“Kids are always in the street here, and the cars just speed anyway,” said Kim Looman, 35, who has lived on the block for about five months. “People drink and drive. It’s terrible.”

Clutching her only two photographs of Kathy, Ducksworth talked of making funeral plans.

“We’re going to have all the children sing ‘This Little Light of Mine,’ ” she said. “That was Kathy’s favorite song. She knew how to sing that on her own in church.”

Ducksworth had left Kathy, 6-year-old Devon and her five older children with their grandmother while she shopped for groceries. The grandmother was indoors working in the kitchen at the time of the crash.

“I’m worried about what my kids saw,” said Ducksworth. She worried too about what other children witnessed.

The accident took place just after 1:30 p.m. as many neighborhood youngsters were coming home from summer school. Even those who were not on the street at the time came running out when the heard the commotion.

“I heard wheels and a squeal,” said Olga Garcia, 11. “I saw the little girl in the street.”

Stanton Mayor Harry M. Dotson said Friday that the area--known as Tina-Pacific for the streets bordering it--has been a target for a variety of rehabilitation efforts in recent years. More work--including street improvements--is scheduled to be done.

Pacific Avenue is lined with fraying multiunit houses, and many families with young children say they are doing the best they can. There is little room for children to play, only concrete patios and a narrow strip of grass next to the sidewalks. The nearest park is at a local school, located across busy six-lane Magnolia Avenue. So the kids play in the street and alley instead.

It is difficult to watch children every second, residents say, even though they tell stories of other youngsters hurt.

Luis Sanchez, 11, said he has been hit by cars twice in the six years his family has lived on the block.

“The first time the car hit my leg first and then knocked me down,” he said. “My dad was so mad he broke the back windshield of the car.”

For many of the young children who saw Friday’s accident, it was hard to understand what had happened.

One little girl asked in Spanish if she could go where Kathy was.

“No, honey,” Ducksworth answered. “You can’t go with Kathy.”