A suspected hit-and-run driver in Long Beach was arrested Sunday after crashing into a teenager, who later died from his injuries, according to authorities.
Police officers were dispatched around 12:40 a.m. to the area of South Street and Orange Avenue to investigate a hit-and-run accident, according to a news release from the Long Beach Police Department.
Officers and the Long Beach Fire Department attempted to save the life of a 17-year-old boy, police said. He was hospitalized but later died from his injuries.
Karen Mativa, a 35-year-old Compton resident, was driving a 2012 Cadillac SRX northbound on Orange Avenue when she allegedly collided with a child riding a self-propelled scooter north of South Street, according to the release.
Mativa allegedly fled the scene before crashing into an apartment building at 6100 Orange Avenue, police said. She then fled on foot before being detained by officers a short time later.
Mativa was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, hit-and-run resulting in death or injury, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and assault with a deadly weapon, authorities said. Her bail was set at $130,000.
Family members who spoke with KABC-TV identified the teenage victim as Brandon Cabrera.
“He didn't deserve to die like that at all,” said Cabrera's friend, Aniyah Diaz. “…There goes his whole life, gone.”
