LOS ANGELES, CA – A 72-year-old woman was struck and killed by a southbound driver while crossing Main Street near Cubbon Street in Santa Ana on Monday morning, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.
The crash was reported at about 6:27 a.m. Monday, Oct. 5, near Main and Cubbon streets, police said. Officers received multiple calls about a pedestrian who had been struck.
Police identified the woman as Sarinana Gaytan Rutilia, 72, of Santa Ana. She died at the scene.
The department’s Collision Investigation Unit is continuing the investigation into how the crash happened.
Aid given at the scene
Santa Ana police officers and personnel from the Orange County Fire Authority responded to the intersection after the calls came in. According to police, they tried to save the woman’s life.
Rutilia died at the scene despite those efforts. Officers had found her lying in the roadway with fatal injuries, according to initial reports.
How police say the crash unfolded
Police said the preliminary investigation indicates Rutilia appeared to have been walking westbound across the northbound and southbound lanes of Main Street. A vehicle traveling southbound struck her while she was in the roadway.
The department described those findings as preliminary. The Collision Investigation Unit has not released further details about the vehicle or the conditions at the time of the crash.
Driver stayed and cooperated
The driver remained at the scene after the collision, police said. The driver cooperated with investigators and did not appear to be impaired, according to the department.
The department did not announce an arrest or a citation in its release on the crash.
Collision Investigation Unit leads the inquiry
The Santa Ana Police Department’s Traffic Division includes the Collision Investigative Unit, which investigates traffic collisions within city limits. The division lists (714) 245-8200 for case information.
Detective A. Phan is the investigator named in the department’s release on the crash. The release did not give a timeline for completing the investigation.
Pedestrian safety data for Santa Ana
The California Office of Traffic Safety publishes annual rankings that compare cities of similar size. Its 2022 ranking for Santa Ana lists 120 pedestrian victims killed and injured in the city that year, which placed Santa Ana 6th among 15 comparable cities.
The same ranking lists 20 pedestrian victims aged 65 and older killed and injured in Santa Ana in 2022, placing the city 4th of 15 in that category. The figures cover that year and do not describe the Oct. 5 crash.
The city also maintains a Vision Zero page on traffic safety. It says Santa Ana ranks 4th among the 15 highest-population cities in California for injury and fatality collisions involving bicyclists and 5th for those involving pedestrians.
According to the same page, the City Council approved the Vision Zero Action Plan on June 4, 2024. The plan’s stated objective is to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries by 2040.
Detectives ask for information
Anyone with information about the collision is asked to contact Detective A. Phan at 714-245-8207 or the Santa Ana Police Department Traffic Division at 714-245-8200.
Investigation remains active
The Collision Investigation Unit has not announced a cause of the crash. Police said the investigation is continuing, and no further official findings had been released as of Thursday, Oct. 8.
