Long Beach boy hit by car dies
Father is also killed in suspected DUI crash on Halloween. Mother still in coma.
A 3-year-old Long Beach boy died Saturday after being struck in a suspected DUI crash while trick-ortreating Halloween night.
The boy’s father was killed and his mother critically injured when the driver of a 2002 Toyota Sequoia traveling southbound on Country Club Drive near Los Cerritos Park failed to make a turn, drove onto the sidewalk and hit the family about 9:55 p.m. Thursday, Long Beach police said.
The driver of the vehicle, 20-year-old Carlo Navarro of Long Beach, was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter and is being held in the Long Beach City Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Police have not identified the family, but a GoFundMe page identified the boy as Omar Awaida and his parents as Joseph Awaida and Raihan Dakhil.
According to the page, as of Sunday, roughly 2,900 donors had raised more than $170,000 for funeral and medical expenses. Another site, Launchgood, had brought in more than $130,000 from more than 2,100 donors.
The donors — friends, neighbors, teachers and customers of Joe’s Auto Center, an Awaida family business in Long Beach — expressed shock and heartbreak at news of the tragedy. Wellwishers made a memorial at the collision site, leaving flowers, candles and stuffed animals.
Dakhil, 32, was a social work intern at Long Beach Unified School District last year who “served so many students with her kind spirit, giving heart and unconditional acceptance of everyone she meets. She is a healer at her core,” wrote Sheri Koller on the GoFundMe page.
Awaida, 30, was working as an office manager at his father’s auto shop and studying to become a doctor, said Kenyatta Omar, a close friend and fellow member of Masjid Al-Shareef.
“He’s one of those friends you love to see come and hate to see go,” said Omar, whose father headed the mosque for two decades before dying of an illness in April. “With his smile and cheerfulness, he was the one to uplift you if you were sad.”
Omar said news of the tragedy spread quickly in the close-knit Muslim community in Long Beach. He received a call at 6 a.m. Friday from a tearful imam at another mosque, and the community has since rallied to support the family with food, donations and messages of support.
He added that the deaths were even more devastating because the family had suffered another tragedy in 2014, when Awaida’s then-13year-old brother, Omar, died after slipping off a cliff on a family camping trip. Awaida named his son after his brother, said Imam Abu Ishaq Abdulhafiz of Masjid Al-Shareef.
“Everyone was devastated, but they never wavered in their faith,” Abdulhafiz said. “They are a strong example of people who trusted in God.”
Awaida’s parents, Yousef and Vera, were immigrants from Jordan who raised their four sons to be kind, respectful and devout members of the community, Omar said.
He added that Joseph Awaida was particularly close to his father and his favorite hobby was spending time with his family.
Awaida and Dakhil were a “power team” in the Long Beach Muslim community who joined interfaith gatherings, helped feed the homeless, taught Sunday school and volunteered at mosque events, Omar said.
Omar said Dakhil remained in a coma. The couple’s son was taken off life support Saturday.
A candlelight vigil is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Los Cerritos Park, 3750 Del Mar Ave.
Police are asking anyone with video surveillance footage or other information to contact Collision Investigation Det. Sirilo Garcia at (562) 570-7355 or sirilo. garcia@longbeach.gov.
Anonymous tips may be submitted through L.A. Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-8477 or by visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.