Police briefs

A man who was hit by a car last month has died as a result of injuries

sustained from that accident.

Huntington Beach resident Mark De La Fuente, 55, died last Thursday at

approximately 7 p.m. at Orange Coast Memorial Hospital, one month after

allegedly being hit by a car driven by Lisa Terese Piho at the

intersection of Warner Avenue and Graham Street.

The July 15 traffic collision involved three cars. At the time of the

collision, De La Fuente, a pedestrian, sustained serious injuries and was

taken to UCI Medical Center.

The Huntington Beach Police Department said that the investigation is

ongoing; however, investigators say they believe that the vehicle driven

by Piho, also of Huntington Beach, failed to stop at a red traffic signal

westbound at Warner and Graham.

At the conclusion of the investigation, officials said, the police

department will be submitting the case to the Orange County District

Attorney’s office for review and possible criminal proceedings.

De La Fuente was walking his dog south on Graham and crossing Warner

at 8:15 a.m. on July 15 when a 1998 silver Mitsubishi Eclipse heading

west on Warner allegedly ran a red light and was broadsided by a red 1995

Honda Civic, police said. The crash caused the driver of the Mitsubishi,

Piho, to lose control and careen into De La Fuente, Officer Bob Barr

said.

The Eclipse continued to skid sideways after hitting De La Fuente. It

hit the rear left side of a black 1993 Honda Civic before finally coming

to rest west of the intersection, Barr said.

The dog also was injured but has recovered.

The driver of the red Honda Civic, 37-year-old Huntington Beach

resident Sharon Hall, was treated and released from Hoag Memorial

Hospital Presbyterian with minor injuries, including whiplash. The driver

of the black Civic, Bethany Holder, 24, also of Huntington Beach, was not

injured.

Neighborhood Preservation Program launched in Surf City

The Huntington Beach City Council has launched a Neighborhood

Preservation Program to preserve and improve multifamily and

single-family neighborhoods and reduce the need to police and code

enforcement.

The new program also is meant to eliminate blight within residential

neighborhoods and help residents establish housing community groups to

define and resolve neighborhood problems.

“I don’t like to change the character of a neighborhood, but prefer to

work with people directly to improve the quality of their lives,” said

Bill Zylla, who became the city’s first-ever Neighborhood Preservation

Program manager on Aug. 13.

Zylla previously served as neighborhood services manager for Chino

Hills and as public safety manager for Temple City.

The Neighborhood Preservation Program is being designed to incorporate

the city’s existing services such as code enforcement, infrastructure

improvements and the Community Development Block Grant Program together

to preserve the city’s housing stock.

“By coordinating all of the wide range of important city services with

a number of valuable resources available to them, we hope residents

throughout Huntington Beach will benefit from the Neighborhood

Preservation Program,” Planning Director Howard Zelefsky said.