Somber vigil honors father killed in chaotic hit-and-run crash at Pomona taco stand

POMONA, Calif. (KABC) — A somber vigil was held Saturday night in honor of a 52-year-old father of 4 who was killed when a hit-and-run driver plowed into a taco stand in Pomona.

Twelve other people were injured in the violent Friday night crash that claimed the life of Gilberto Cazares Payan.

His goddaughter told ABC7 that he was visiting the taco stand to pick up dinner when the driver slammed into the stand’s pop-up tent, scattering chairs and tables.

The crash happened just before 7:45 p.m. in the area of West Holt Avenue and Dudley Street, near Kiwanis Park, according to the Pomona Police Department.

“As soon as you heard the hit, you see the man right there, he was already laying down,” said witness Carlos Gonzalez. “It’s all in a split-second, so when you turn around, everything was already done.”

Payan was pronounced dead at the scene by firefighter-paramedics.

Twelve others were hospitalized, three of them with critical injuries, police said.

The driver, a 26-year-old Pomona woman, ran from the crash site but turned herself into police just before 11 p.m. She was booked on suspicion of two felonies, police said in a statement: vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and hit-and-run with death/injury

The suspect has not been publicly identified.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, according to police.