Three family members, who were riding bicycles, including a 7-year-old child, were hit in a crosswalk in northeast Fresno Wednesday night, The Fresno Bee reports.
The accident, which took place at 9:00 p.m. on July 25, 2012, occurred when Central High School’s boys’ varsity basketball coach allegedly hit the family with his car as they were in the crosswalk across Shepherd Avenue, just west of Millbrook Avenue. The 7-year-old died, and the coach faces charges of vehicular manslaughter and DUI.
Police said Loren LeBeau drove into the family and left the scene of the accident, but he returned later and identified himself. Lt. Mike Doyle said LeBeau was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
According to Doyle, the father and his 2-year-old daughter were riding on one bicycle together on the Fresno-Clovis Rail Trail, and his son, Donovan Maldonado, was on another bicycle when they were hit crossing Shepherd Avenue. Doyle said that Donovan was dragged a couple hundred yards down the street, The Bee reports. Responders took the boy to the hospital, and initially his condition was described as very critical.
Doyle said the father and daughter suffered serious injuries and responders took them to Community Regional Medical Center. Father and daughter were not identified. The three family members had been in a group that included four others who were walking on the trail, Doyle said, including the mother of the children. The Bee’s news story says that when the accident occurred Wednesday night, a streetlight at the crossing involved was not working. They are looking into how fast the driver was going at the time of the accident, and whether he had his headlights illuminated at the time of the crash.
LeBeau has been varsity basketball coach at Central High for 10 seasons, including the last five years, The Bee reports. In between two intervals as coach as Central, he served as an assistant coach at Pepperdine and Fresno City.
Donovan Maldonado was a student at Liberty Elementary School in northeast Fresno. He would have gone into second grade in the fall, according to a spokeswoman for the Clovis Unified School District.
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