Crime & Safety
Report: Police Will Seek Vehicular Manslaughter Charge Against Driver for Crosswalk Collision That Killed Arcadia High Student
16-year-old Alice Zhang was killed on April 10 while crossing the street at a crosswalk in the 600 block of West Duarte Road.
The Pasadena Star News and Arcadia Weekly are both reporting that the has completed its investigation in the 600 block of West Duarte Road that led to the death of and serious injuries to a second unidentified 16-year-old female.
According to reports, investigators will take the case to the the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office this week to recommend that the 19-year-old driver of the vehicle that struck Zhang be charged with vehicular manslaughter. In an interview with the Star News, Detective Mike Hale of the APD cited negligence on the driver’s part for driving with a dirty windshield which affected his visibility.
The final decision on whether or not to file charges against the driver will be made by the DA.
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, who reportedly is an Arcadia High School graduate currently serving in the Army Reserve.
In the time since Zhang’s death, a grassroots effort to make the crosswalk where she was killed safer has begun to gain steam. Juniors Li-Xing Chang, Andy Qin and Utthara Rameshbabu, all classmates of Zhang's, are the leaders of this growing group called the "ForAlice Movement.”
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The group has made presentations at an AUSD Board of Education meeting as well as to stump for support for its proposal to make the crosswalk at Duarte Road safer for pedestrians and drivers. Under one of several proposals by the group, solid red lights would replace the flashing yellow lights currently deployed at the Duarte crosswalk.
Friends of Zhang have honored their late friend by erecting a makeshift memorial to her at the crosswalk where she was killed. The 16-year-old female who survived the collision has been released from the hospital, according to Hale.
We’ll have more on the story as details become available.
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