Man killed in front of local bar

Marisa O’Neil

A suspected drunken driver struck two men, killing one and critically

injuring the other early Friday morning in front of a popular

nightclub on East 17th Street.

Andre Felipe De Oliveira Braga, 31, of Laguna Beach, died in the

street in front of the Pierce Street Annex bar where he was hit by a

black Mitsubishi Eclipse just past midnight while crossing the road

with John Garazulis, 25, of Westminster, who was critically injured,

police said.

Police arrested 22-year-old Pawel Stanislaw Wiater on suspicion of

felony driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter, said

Costa Mesa Police Lt. John FitzPatrick.

Wiater did not attempt to leave the scene, FitzPatrick said, but

had difficulty communicating because he primarily speaks Polish. He

is being held on $100,000 bail.

Braga died from skull and facial fractures, said Rod Thomas of the

Orange County Coroner’s office. Garazulis was taken to Western

Medical Center in Santa Ana in critical condition, FitzPatrick said.

Western Medical Center, however, said Friday that they have no record

of the man being there.

An 18-year-old passenger in Wiater’s car was taken to Hoag

Hospital for a cut forehead and released.

Immediately after the accident, taxi driver Ron Tye used his cab

to block traffic and prevent vehicles from hitting the victims while

waiting for help to arrive.

“I got out of my car and checked on the victims,” the 39-year-old

San Pedro resident said. “I saw one guy and I knew he was gone. The

other guy had three people around him and I could see he was trying

to breathe.”

Tye, a former airline pilot, said he was trained in CPR but

Garazulis seemed able to breathe on his own. Pulling his taxi out to

block traffic came as an instinct, he said, because he knew other

motorists couldn’t see the victims in the dark.

“Absolutely, they would have got hit again,” he said. “There were

a lot of drunks out that night. There’s no telling if another

[driver] would have come along [and] hit them.”

Green spray paint marked the scene of the accident on 17th Street

Friday, stretching about 100 feet from the front of the Marie

Callender’s restaurant driveway to the front of the International

House of Pancakes.

It appears that the two men were crossing to the north side of the

street, Fitzpatrick said, where a sign warns pedestrians not to

cross.

“There’s no crosswalk there,” FitzPatrick said. “But they were not

in violation of jaywalking laws.”

Pierce Street Annex is a popular Thursday night hangout with

dancing and drink specials, but it is not clear if the men were

headed to the bar, FitzPatrick said.

The bartender at Pierce Street on Friday said they had not seen

the accident and declined to comment.