Santa Ana Boy Struck by Truck : Tragic Death Spurs Aid for Family

Santa Ana police officers had raised $487 Tuesday for the family of 4-year-old Juan Alberto Muniz, who was struck by a truck and killed Monday as his family rummaged for food in a Santa Ana grocery store dumpster.

On Tuesday, dozens of people brought food, furnishings, clothing, toys and checks to the Santa Ana Police Department for Raquel and Juan Muniz, both 40, and their remaining five children.

Westminster Memorial Park will provide the funeral service, flowers, limousines and a hearse at no cost, general manager Jack M. Lyons said. He said the memorial park would have donated a burial plot, but the family wanted to have the boy buried in a Catholic cemetery.

“We go along in this world 70 or 80 years,” Lyons said simply, “and we ought to stop and help each other once in a while.”

The Orange Catholic Diocese arranged late Tuesday for a free burial plot at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange.

Tony Zavala, a Santa Ana police traffic officer who was at the scene of the accident, is spearheading the campaign to help the Muniz family. His first concern, he said, is to remove their worry about funeral plans.

“We lost a little girl to crib death in 1982 and I know how hard it is to make funeral arrangements,” Zavala said. “I thought if I could help them in that, it would be a lot in itself.”

Police say the family lives in a cramped, one-bedroom apartment on Minnie Street for which it pays $450 a month. Zavala said the landlord had threatened to evict the family and told Zavala that it was because “they had a whole bunch of junk stored up in the apartment and it smelled.” The landlord did not return phone calls Tuesday.

Until he was laid off about two years ago, Juan Muniz Sr. had worked regularly at an aluminum siding company, police said. Muniz, a Mexican national, lost his job when the Immigration and Naturalization Service raided the company. He has been fighting deportation ever since, his attorney, Ruben Hernandez, said.

Since his layoff, Muniz has worked irregularly at odd jobs, including minor carpentry and cleanup work. The family has a broken-down station wagon, Zavala said, which neighbors on Minnie Street got together to fix.

Mostly, police said, the Muniz family has survived by scavenging through dumpsters for unrotted food discarded by stores and for cardboard, which was recycled for a few dollars.

That is what Muniz, his wife and three of their children were doing about 1:30 p.m. Monday behind Albertson’s at 1710 East 17th St., police say.

As they rummaged through the dumpster, Zavala said, the family members exchanged greetings with Isaias Gonzalez, 30, who had backed a Frito-Lay delivery truck to a loading dock.

Raquel Muniz said, “ ‘Be careful, watch out for my kids,’ ” according to Zavala. “The driver says, ‘OK.’ ”

Sequence Unknown

It is not clear precisely what happened next because there were no witnesses, but Zavala said officers believe the mother momentarily lost sight of her son and he darted in front of the truck.

As the mother and family watched in horror, the truck driver, not knowing what had happened, pulled away and the boy lay on the ground.

“She picked him up and carried him to their car . . . another woman from a shop took the baby from the mother’s arms because she looked like she’d faint.”

Paramedics were called, but Juan Alberto Muniz was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy conducted Tuesday showed that the boy died of massive head injuries, a spokeswoman for the Orange County coroner’s office said.

Officers Shaken

Five officers who arrived at the accident site were visibly shaken. Some cried.

“As officers, we go to shootings, homicides, suicides. But if you look at the circumstances of this, it just makes it so tragic,” Zavala said.

“We don’t always get involved in things like this--if we did we would be basket cases--but this one just kind of hits home.”

So the officers--with the help of Chief Deputy Coroner Jim Beisner and Senior Deputy Coroner Barbara Mitchell--began casting about for help.

Just a few hours after the boy died, more than $200 had been donated by Santa Ana police officers and employees and by local businesses. Some of the merchants knew the Muniz family, which had a regular food pickup schedule at certain locations, Zavala said.

Account Opened

An account was opened Tuesday at California Federal Savings and Loan, 1802 N. Main St., Santa Ana, for donations.

Contributions may be made to the Juan Alberto Muniz Memorial Fund at any branch of the savings and loan, or through the Santa Ana Police Benevolent Assn., 506 S. Broadway, Santa Ana, 92701.

Donations such as furniture and clothing can be made through the police association.

Police Tuesday were arranging for volunteer officers to pick up contributions that donors said they could not deliver. Now, Zavala said, they need to find a storage area to put all the gear.

Father Wants Job

Meanwhile, Juan Muniz Sr. and his family temporarily abandoned their apartment and dropped out of sight. Muniz, an extremely proud man, Zavala said, would like a job more than handouts and is somewhat uncomfortable with the gush of donations.

The family migrated to America from Mexico a dozen years ago, and at one time applied for citizenship, their attorney said. They are living in California legally while they await a judge’s verdict on their case. “I just want them to have a little bit of what they don’t have right now,” Zavala said. “I didn’t realize we’d have that much of a response . . . I feel really good about it, elated that people care so much. I hope that people don’t feel that other families in need are neglected . . . I know we can’t help the whole world but you gotta start somewhere, with one. And these people are just lost.”