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By Stevon Marshall
June 10, 2014 (San Diego)--Most say the hardest feeling in the world is for a parent to bury a child, but how about a child having to bury a parent? That’s the reality for a hit and run incident victim’s child.
Anouchka Mihaylova (photo), 62, a Bulgarian immigrant and professor at UC San Diego, died in her husband’s arms after being struck by a hit and run driver on May 17th while walking to their favorite restaurant in Rancho Bernardo. She is among a growing number of victims countywide killed this year by drivers who fled the scene.
The accident has left her family surprised and heartbroken. Her death is also a blow to the medical community. Before her passing, Anouchka Mihaylova worked in the Department of Bioengineering at UCSD, where she was doing research on the artificial heart.
Her son, Broian Spassov, recalled, “My dad wanted to drive, but she said, ‘No, we must walk.’”
According to the San Diego Police, a car jumped the curb, fatally struck Mihaylova on the sidewalk, then took off without stopping. The police described the vehicle as a silver 2005 or 2006 Nissan Altima 2.5S, that may have damage below the right headlight and on the passenger side. It may also be missing the passenger side mirror.
“Turn yourself in,” was Spassov’s message for the runaway driver who killed his mother. “They took away my dad’s partner, and they ran away. It’s cowardly.”
Spassov described his mother a being an energetic person who loved everyone she met. It took him a little while to begin the process of coming to terms with his mother’s death. “I wish I had spent more time, put aside small things. We have a small. small family. It’s just my Dad and I now.”
This is just one of 11 hit-and-run fatalities involving pedestrians or bicyclists in San Diego County so far this year, according to voiceofsandiego.org. That’s already one more death than the average for the past five precious years—and we’re only in June.
The San Diego Police Department said that out of the six fatal hit-and-runs that have happened within the city of San Diego since January, only one has been solved.
Another unsolved hit-and-run tragedy happened in North Park. On January 31, around 12:30 a.m., Seamus O’Bryan, 32, who’s visited remote islands to help construct and deliver medical supplies, had just clocked out of work at the Old Globe Theatre, where he was a prop master. O’Bryan got on his motorcycle and picked up his friend, Peter Newbigin, who was visiting from Australia and rode on back. They’d planned to park the bike at O’Bryan’s house, then walk to a bar. However, as they drove down University Avenue in North Park, suddenly, everything changed.
Newbigin then detected O’Bryan’s muscles tighten, he then peeked around his friend’s helmet to see white, rushing headlights. Seconds later, they were tumbling down the pavement. Newbigin quickly stood up and saw the white sedan, which was driving in the wrong lane and stopped briefly, then turned left and sped out of sight. Many witnesses had called about the crash. So, four minutes later, when San Diego police units arrived at the scene, O’Bryan laid motionless. He was then transferred to a hospital and was declared dead at 1:06 a.m.
O’Bryan’s father, Bert, said his son had always been the “belly-laugh of the family” for his ability to change the energy in the room and make the family smile. He doesn’t want people to hear any feelings of anger or resentment coming from him or Seamus’ mom, Marty O’Bryan. His tone on the his son’s death is quite different than the tone Anouchka Mihaylova’s son had.
“We’re all going to die,” Bert said. “Ultimately, what matters isn’t how we die, but how we lived. And Seamus enjoyed life. He truly lived. If there’s any sadness in this, it’s in thinking what might have been.” He went on to say, “But even after all that, I would still like to know. It’s not that we think what happened is okay. But we’re not going to run from this and let it ruin the rest of our lives.”
He speaks from experience. Sadness has plagued the family. Bert and Marty, who live in Phoenix, lost another son who suffered from mental illness and eventually took his own life last year.
Meanwhile, back at the crime scene an investigator from the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office visited. She saw some of the remaining items scattered on the street; a scarf, pair of black gloves, and a blood-soaked pea coat. Detectives followed leads, but were unsuccessful of tracking down the driver.
O’Bryan’s death seemed to prompt a string of recent tragedies. NBC 7, back in February named the surge in hit-and-runs an “epidemic”, and listed more deaths that happened in succession. Three days after O’Bryan was killed, Benjamin Ramirez, 23, died in Escondido while walking home from his job at Albertsons. Then less than a week later, Alonso Flores Pacheco, 81, was hit and killed in front of his son in San Ysidro. None of the drivers responsible for these cases have been found.
Similar stories appear every week, while some are brief and clinical: “Police seek driver in San Ysidro fatal hit-run” and some heart-rending: “USCD Professor Struck by Car, Dies in Husband’s Arms”.
According to the most recent data California Highway Patrol made available, between 2008 and 2012 there were more than 17,000 hit-and-run collisions countywide. Fifty-seven people died, while almost 7,000 people were injured.
Officer Mark McCullough of the San Diego Police Department’s traffic division says the overall total of hit-and-runs cases hasn’t grown considerably. But the data from the San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office tells a different story when we zero in on the most appalling cases, the times when pedestrians or bicyclists are hit and left to die.
When a victim gets injured or killed, raising the harshness of the crime from a misdemeanor to a felony, then the police devote more resources to solving the cases. After all, chasing down leads can overwhelm the six detectives assigned to the traffic division. Similar to other divisions of the Police Department, McCullough said, budget constraints make for a thin and overburdened staff. Detectives juggle a stack of cases each day, which include misdemeanor traffic cases as well as felonies, like hit-and-run fatalities. And the scatter-shot locations of where the crimes occur makes it nearly impossible to predict where they will happen next.
Why do people flee the scene without stopping to help the victim—escaping police and remaining in hiding? There are many theories. Perhaps the driver was an immigrant who fled to avoid deportation. Perhaps the driver was mentally unstable or out for a dark thrill. They probably lacked a moral conscience. But local attorney Paul Pfingst, who served eight years as San Diego County district attorney, said alcohol is the most common factor in felony hit-and-run cases. Others include driving without a license or insurance, or fleeing to avoid being sued.
The San Diego Police Department said it doesn’t track cases once they go to court, so it can’t provide information on the most common reason for the crimes. California law states that any time drivers don’t identify themselves before leaving the scene after an accident, when they hit property or a person, they’re guilty of a hit-and-run. The difference between a misdemeanor and felony hit-and-run depends on whether someone was injured.
Sometimes people panic and have a lapse in judgment. In those cases, a person’s punishment might depend on whether they knew they had injured someone, or if stopping to help might have saved a victim’s life, Pfingst said.
Proving the driver knew they hit someone and drove away anyway is a challenge for prosecutors. In 2010, after Lisa Hutchinson hit and killed 18-year-old Steven Kelley in Carlsbad, then drove away, she was sentenced to probation and community service.
Just weeks prior, prosecutors declined to charge a 92-year-old man who hit and killed 15-year-old Lucas Giaconelli in Vista. The man later told authorities he didn’t stop because he assumed he’d hit an owl.
If the person behind the wheel was driving carelessly, that person could also be charged with vehicular manslaughter as well as hit –and-run. If there’s no alcohol involved but the person fled, the standard sentence countywide for a hit-and-run is six months to a year in jail and subsequent probation, Pfingst said. But punishments usually skyrocket if alcohol or drugs were involved.
For example, when repeat DUI offender Alan Lester Mabrey, killed 24-year-old Emily Dowdy in 2009 after he’d been drinking, he was sentenced to 20 years to life.The disparity in punishment can offer an unreasonably incentive for drivers to flee.
In 2009, when 23-year-old Nicoll Koval killed Albert Holman on a rainy night in Rancho Peñasquitos, she left the scene. When she turned herself in to authorities the next day, investigators found an empty can of malt liquor in her car, and saw the victim’s shoe dangling from the car’s undercarriage. Despite that evidence, the court couldn’t prove she’d been drunk at the time of the crash. She pleaded guilty to felony hit-and-run. She was sentenced to a year in jail, but served less than eight months. She was later arrested for trying to smuggle drugs into a county jail.
Next time you hear or read about hit and run occurring, think about all the domino effects that it has on the family, law, and society in general. Overall there have been many cases solved, but even more remain unsolved.
But with the advent of social media and alerts issued by local police departments, the public can play an important role in bringing hit-and-run drivers to justice.
Here in East County, an off-duty San Diego Gas & Electric Company driver struck a man crossing the road in El Cajon at night, then fled the scene without stopping to call for help, according to police. A second driver hit the pedestrian, who had been left lying in the road. The victim, Robert Fischer, died of his injuries.
El Cajon Police issued a media alert asking for public help to solve the crime. Thanks to tips from the public, police were able to locate and arrest the driver, Hector Hoyt. He was charged with felony hit and run causing death of the victim.
The victim’s family announced a lawsuit against SDG&E, since Hoyt had a prior history of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Hoyt also lost his job.
By contrast, the second driver, who did the right thing by stopping to seek help, did not face any charges.
For Fischer’s son, like many family members of those run down by hit-and-run drivers, haunting questions remain. Why didn’t Hoyt stop to help his father, a welder who worked hard to support his wife stricken byy multiple schlerosis, until she died and Fischer became homeless.
According to 10 News, Fischer’s son also wants to know why his father was crossing a dark road at night, in the middle of the block, when he was struck and killed.
But regardless of the reasons, his son concludes, “He didn’t deserve to be left like an animal.”
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