For more than three decades, Carlos Perez toiled at a downtown produce market to make a better life for his family. A proud and jovial father and grandfather, he would head to work when most Angelenos were still asleep.
He would park his car in a lot on the east side of Alameda Street and walk across the wide lanes to start his 3 a.m. shift as a supervisor and driver at I&T Produce Co.
But on Monday, the 59-year-old Whittier man was struck mid-street by a car with an impact so hard that shards of glass scattered everywhere from broken lights and the car’s skirting tore off. The driver of the dark Infiniti G35 sedan, which had been traveling north, sped away, never braking or stopping to aid Perez.
The hit-and-run driver disappeared into the downtown night.
Workers at the truck scale and produce factories that line Alameda Street heard the impact and thought it was a two-car collision. They found Perez dead in the wide street, a good distance away from where he usually crossed.
His two sons and daughter remained overcome with grief Friday. They said they could not understand how someone could fail to stop and help their kind, gentle father.
“He got dragged down the street. There was no braking or anything. He died instantly,” said Monique Perez, his 25-year-old daughter. “He did not deserve this. We want justice for my dad.”
She said she hopes someone comes forward to identify the suspect.
“Somebody knows who is responsible," she said. "Please give our family peace of mind.”
When he was not working, Perez doted on his children and in recent years, on his four grandchildren. The day before his death, his family had barbecued and headed to Disneyland, his daughter said.
”He loved hanging out with the grandkids, listening to music and doing family-type things,” she said.
Her father was full of good humor and had a sarcastic wit, she said. He was married for 34 years and had known his wife, Jeannette, since his late teens.
Word was already out among workers in the downtown industrial business district to be on alert for the crumpled Infiniti.
LAPD detectives have no eyewitnesses and few clues apart from the sprawling wreckage left behind on the street.
The debris allowed detectives to determine the car was a dark-colored 2005 or 2006 Infiniti G35, four-door sedan, said Det. Josephine Mapson.
"There should be damage to this vehicle," she said. "A family member, a repair shop or an insurance person is going to hear about it. Someone is going to know about this kind of damage on a car like this.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Mapson or Det. Felix Padilla at (213) 972-1825.
— Richard Winton
Photo: Carlos Perez, who was killed Monday by a hit-and-run driver while crossing Alameda Street in downtown L.A.. Credit: Monique Perez