PHOTO BY TED SOQUI
Jacko, Gary Woodford's best friend, still sobs when he recalls the crash.
Gary Woodford and his buddies left tiny Girard in northern Ohio for the City of Angels 30 years ago, chasing the California dream. Woodford, a well-liked, athletic, curly-haired young man, had just learned that he was color-blind and wouldn't be able to follow his chosen career as a pilot.
PHOTO BY TED SOQUI
Jacko, Gary Woodford's best friend, still sobs when he recalls the crash.
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But he was buoyed by the idea of making his name in L.A.'s aviation industry. His mom, Irene Woodford, recalls how Gary, radiating youthful ambition, told an interviewer at C&S Propeller in Glendale he'd be "the best employee he'd ever had."
Then, about 10 years ago, things went sour. Woodford hurt his back and had trouble finding work. He told his family in Ohio that he was getting by on "odds and ends" but still loved California. Protective of his mother, who had lost a son and husband, and whose third son was left severely disabled after a car struck him, Woodford never told his mom he had an alcohol problem and lived on the streets of North Hollywood.
Now Woodford, 55, is dead — mowed down three months ago on Vineland Avenue by a city-owned Prius driven by Manuel "Manny" Figueras, longtime field deputy to City Councilman Richard Alarcon.
Yet for two and a half months after the March 14 fatality, an unofficial — and rare — information blackout kept the tragedy out of the news.
Had the story come out in March, it likely would have created headlines. Alarcon was engaged in a tough primary campaign for state Assembly, and his handling of a tragedy involving a top aide would have been subject to media scrutiny. Among possible areas of interest to the L.A. public: Eyewitnesses tell the Weekly that Figueras called 911 after striking Woodford but did not try to help the badly bleeding man.
After the fatal crash, odd things began to happen. A draft press release, written by an LAPD traffic captain hours after the fatality, was never made public. A City Hall reporter for the Los Angeles Times did know about it soon after it happened, Alarcon says. The Times asked if Alarcon had been driving. He had not — and the paper ran no story. Yet LAPD's top press officers, Andy Neiman and Andrew Smith, say they had no clue that a City Hall official had killed a pedestrian — until the Weekly called in mid-June.
Gary's mom in Ohio, Irene Woodford, and his sister, Susan, in Cleveland, never heard from Alarcon or his office, and they're desperate to understand what happened.
Alarcon, who years ago lost a son in a traffic accident, never divulged the fatality.
He says he planned to decide whether to hold a press availability after LAPD wrapped up its investigation. He believes the news blackout was a fluke, saying, "I don't know how you'd keep it under wraps, such a horrible tragedy."
He didn't contact the Woodfords, he says, because "the police indicated the man was possibly a homeless person. I never heard back from the police there was any family."
When Alarcon saw Valley Traffic Division captain Ivan Minsal at public events, he asked when the crash investigation would be done, but says he never learned that Woodford's family had been located.
Told by the Weekly that the LAPD found Woodford's mother right after the man's death, Alarcon said he was "very disappointed" he wasn't informed, and plans to send the family condolences.
Woodford's mother and sister in Ohio and friends in the San Fernando Valley — who speak well of the affable homeless man — want answers. "There wasn't [a press release]? Oh my!" his mother exclaims to the Weekly. "All we're looking for is answers," says Susan Woodford.
An autopsy revealed that Woodford died following extensive internal injuries caused by the impact from Figueras' Prius, and that Woodford had a very high level of alcohol in his system. The Los Angeles Daily News broke the story on May 31, identifying Figueras as the driver of the city car and quoting Alarcon about the tragedy, but not addressing the time lag.*
Eyewitness Norberto Correa, who sometimes bought meals for Woodford, says the fatal accident was obviously news, and of public interest. He says Figueras' car was traveling "real fast" and swerved from the middle lane on Vineland, striking Woodford as he neared the curb, throwing him onto the Prius' windshield and then to the street.
"The car swung from the middle lane and hit Gary," says Correa, who lives nearby with his daughter. "He wasn't trying to stop, either." Correa says Figueras called authorities but failed to help the bleeding Woodford. Figueras went back and forth to his car and fumbled with something near the dashboard, Correa says.
Another eyewitness, Woodford's best friend, Jacko, who called Woodford "Papa," stood near where Woodford died, explaining how he was helping his friend cross five-lane Vineland when Figueras swerved at him. "I had looked both ways," Jacko said between sobs. "I had ahold of his forearm, because he's old. I get him all the way across and I'm stepping on the curb."
Woodford was two steps from the curb when "this car comes flying from the middle lane and hits him. I was holding him. He was gasping, 'Help me.'
