Isaac Arellanes Jr Obituary, Death; – An 18-year-old male was fatally injured, and six others sustained injuries in a hit-and-run incident that occurred outside a Starbucks in the Chinatown area of Los Angeles, as reported by authorities on Saturday.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene of the collision at the intersection of Broadway and Cesar Chavez Avenue shortly before 12:45 a.m., according to a statement from the Los Angeles Fire Department. The rollover incident transpired when a vehicle traveling on Cesar Chavez collided with another vehicle heading north on Broadway, as explained by Officer Kevin Terzes of the Los Angeles Police Department. The 18-year-old, who was a passenger in the impacted vehicle, was declared deceased at a hospital, Terzes confirmed.
While police have not released the name of the deceased, family members present at the intersection on Saturday evening identified him as Isaac Arellanes Jr., a student at Rio Hondo College.
Isaac Arellanes Sr. shared that both he and his son had participated in training at Homeboy Industries, a well-known gang intervention and rehabilitation program, and had received their high school diplomas on the same day earlier this year. Since then, his son had been aspiring to become an electrician and was also a young father, Arellanes noted.
“I was very proud of him. I was tough on my son,” he stated, standing near a makeshift memorial adorned with candles, flowers, and balloons. “He was the one I worried about most.” Family members at the crash site covered a bus kiosk with photographs of Arellanes Jr. and provided a link to a GoFundMe page to assist with funeral costs.
Six additional individuals involved in the incident were transported to a hospital, with two in critical condition and the remaining four suffering from non-life-threatening injuries, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Margaret Stewart. Two individuals were trapped in a vehicle and were extricated by firefighters, she added.
Footage broadcast by KTLA-TV depicted one of the vehicles overturned on the sidewalk adjacent to the Starbucks outdoor patio, while the other vehicle was severely damaged at the curb. A responding crew worked to lift the overturned vehicle.
