Somber vigil honors father killed in chaotic hit-and-run crash at Pomona taco stand
POMONA, Calif. (KABC) -- A somber vigil was held Saturday night in honor of a 52-year-old father of four who was killed when a hit-and-run driver plowed into a taco stand in Pomona.
Twelve other people were injured in the Friday night crash that claimed the life of Gilberto Cazares Payan.
Payan's wife consoled their 8-year-old son at the vigil, which included prayers amid intermittent rain.
Robert Sanchez, a friend of Payan, said the victim was visiting the taco stand to pick up dinner when the driver slammed into the stand's pop-up tent, scattering chairs and tables.
"I feel so sad and real bad because he left four sons (and) his wife," Sanchez said.
The crash happened just before 7:45 p.m. in the area of West Holt Avenue and Dudley Street, near Kiwanis Park, according to the Pomona Police Department.
Payan was pronounced dead at the scene by firefighter-paramedics.
Twelve others were hospitalized, three of them with critical injuries, police said.
The driver, a 26-year-old Pomona woman, ran from the crash site but turned herself into police just before 11 p.m. She was booked on suspicion of two felonies, police said in a statement: vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and hit-and-run with death/injury.
"I don't know why she did it and I'm not here to judge her," said Candi Garcia, a neighbor of Payan and his family. "I'm sorry for her too and for her family because I don't know her situation. I don't know what she was doing, I don't know what she was thinking."
The suspect has not been publicly identified.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, according to police.
