Seven Children of Mother Killed by Hit-Run Driver Fear Return to Orphanage

A pregnant mother of seven who left a friend’s car Thursday night after the driver ran a stop sign and struck a taxi, was then fatally struck and dragged almost 70 feet by the driver, a San Diego Police Department spokesman said.

Luz Maria Martinez, 32, of the 300 block of Hoitt Street, was walking away from the accident scene near the intersection of Island Avenue and 28th Street in Southeast San Diego when she was struck by the vehicle about 11:25 p.m., police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

Martinez was taken to UCSD Medical Center, where she died at 2:45 a.m., said a spokesman for the county medical examiner’s office. She was about six months pregnant when she died, according to Rodolfo Carrillo, a family friend.

The car was impounded, and detectives were investigating whether the hit-and-run death was intentional or whether the man left the scene without realizing Martinez had already left the car, police said.

The taxi driver lost control of his car during the accident and crashed into a house on Island Avenue, Robinson said.

Martinez is survived by seven children: Jose, 14; Guadalupe, 13; Mariana, 11; Felipe, 9; Santiago, 7; Fernando, 6, and Andro, 1.

The family had been reunited in December when Martinez, who has lived in San Diego for three years, returned to Mexico City to get each of her children from three different orphanages, Carrillo said.

Most of the children seemed fearful of being returned to the Mexican orphanages, said Carrillo, 37, who interpreted Martinez’s oldest daughter, Guadalupe.

Guadalupe ran to the accident scene, less than two blocks from the small house the family shares with a friend, Carrillo said.

“We want the family to stay together,” she said as she sat trembling on the front porch of the house.

“In Mexico, the girls were in one orphanage, the boys in another, and the baby was in another one,” she said, her face stained with dried tears.

“The social worker said she won’t promise nothing,” because the children are all Mexican citizens, Guadalupe said.

Martinez’s oldest boy, Jose, didn’t like his mother’s companion and pleaded with her not to go with the man, Carrillo said. He ran out of the house Thursday night when she ignored his advice, and the family has not seen him since.

“He may not know about the accident,” Carrillo said. “We don’t know where he is.”

Carrillo pleaded for help in allowing the children to remain in the United States.

“The best idea is if they can stay here, because they need help,” which they would not receive in Mexico, he said.

“I love my country but, over there, well, it’s not like here.”