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6-Year-Old Boy Is The Fourth Death In Suspected DUI Crash
A 6-year-old boy is the fourth fatality in a Redondo Beach crash on Wednesday in which a woman drove into 12 pedestrians as they were leaving a church. Margo Bronstein, 56, ran a red light and crashed into 12 people as they were leaving a Christmas concert at St. James Catholic Church in Redondo Beach on Wednesday at about 8 p.m. Three were killed at the scene and the other nine were transported to the hospital.
The boy, Samuel Gaza, had performed in the concert that night. When Bronstein struck the group, he was dragged by her Saturn sedan as she swerved into another lane, then crashed head-on into an SUV. Michael Tovar, who witnessed the crash, said he went over to the car and yelled at Bronstein, who was still seated in the car, City News Service reports.
"I yelled at her and I asked her, 'What did you do?'" he said. "And she just looked at me, blank-eyed. Me and another gentleman looked down and I thought it was a jacket that the car was on, but it was a little boy."
Gaza suffered head trauma and a bruised lung and remained in critical condition up until his death last night.
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Also killed in the crash were Gaza's mother, 36-year-old Martha Gaza; Mary Wilson, 81; and Saeko Masumura, 87. The boy's father, Glen Gaza, is in stable condition at a nearby hospital, KTLA reports. It is not known what condition the remaining two Gaza children are in at this time.
Investigators believe that Bronstein was on prescription drugs "at the very minimum," according to Lt. Joe Hoffman of the Redondo Beach Police Department. A friend of Bronstein's told KTLA that she was known to take a lot of painkillers. Friends of Bronstein's also told the L.A. Times that she used a motorized scooter to get around. She will appear today in a court in Torrance.
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