Raihan Awaida, her husband, Joseph, and their 3-year-old son, Omar, went out Thursday night to partake in Halloween festivities. When they were walking back home, a sport utility vehicle drove onto the sidewalk and struck the entire family.

Her husband died shortly after the crash. Their son died Saturday. And on Sunday evening, she joined them.

The driver of the vehicle, Carlo Navarro, 20, of Long Beach, Calif., was arrested at the scene and faces charges of driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter, the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement. He was booked into the Long Beach City Jail early Friday on $100,000 bail, and was released 17 hours later.

Mr. Navarro did not respond to requests for comment on Monday night, and it was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.

Megan Kerr, a neighbor of Mr. Awaida’s parents, remembered the family as “wonderfully kind.”

“The light of our community is dimmer without them,” she said.

Just before 10 p.m. on Halloween, Mr. Awaida, 30, Ms. Awaida, 32, and their son were walking along Country Club Drive near Los Cerritos Park when Mr. Navarro turned his 2002 Toyota Sequoia onto the sidewalk instead of the road, the police said.

Emergency responders tended to the critically injured pedestrians before rushing them to local hospitals, the police said.

The Awaida family was across the street from their condo when they were hit, according to Ms. Kerr.

She described the couple as “genuinely good people,” and said Omar was “a delight,” who loved to sing and was always smiling.

Hundreds of people attended the funeral services for all three family members on Monday, Ms. Kerr said. The mosque was overflowing with mourners, she added.

“It was a tremendous outpouring of love for a great family,” Ms. Kerr said. “There’s some hope in that, but it was a tough day.”

The service was held at the Islamic Society of Orange County, and the family was buried at Westminster Memorial Park, according to a GoFundMe page created by Brian Dokko, a friend of the family.

By Monday night, more than 3,600 people had donated more than $205,000 to help pay for funeral costs.

Mr. Dokko said the Los Cerritos neighborhood is famous for its Halloween celebrations. Thousands of children descend on its streets looking for treats, he added, remembering when he gave out candy to about 1,200 children one Halloween.

The fatal crash has shaken the entire community, Mr. Dokko said in an interview Monday night.

“That could have been any one of us, just walking,” he said. “There’s no big streets going through our neighborhood.”

He added, “We don’t expect this kind of thing to happen because there are no large thoroughfares, no big avenues or boulevards going through our neighborhood.”

The fatal accident came days after three men were fatally shot and at least nine others were injured at a Halloween house party in Long Beach, Calif., less than 10 miles away from the scene of the crash.

In Chicago, a 7-year-old girl was shot by a masked gunman while trick-or-treating on Halloween day. And hours later, five people were killed in another shooting at a crowded Halloween party in Orinda, Calif.

Source: Read Full Article