Chris Segal
News Assistant
The victim of a hit and run is asking Pepperdine students with any information to come forward.
The California Highway Patrol is investigating a hit-and-run accident that occurred Sept. 18 close to midnight. Alessandra DeClario and her Mantel Great Dane, Annie, were hit by a car traveling toward Pacific Coast Highway on Latigo Canyon Road. DeClario sustained broken bones in her arms and legs and Annie was killed. The driver is suspected to have been leaving a party held at a Pepperdine student’s house.
The vehicle that hit DeClario and her dog was being followed by an SUV. DeClario said that two or three more cars passed her as she lay injured on the road.
“The investigation is open and we are welcoming any lead or information,” Public Information and Public Affairs Officer Leland Tang said. “There are no further leads from the physical evidence at the scene… and we are asking for help.”
When DeClario returned home from the emergency room the following day she said she was in shock and could not even talk.
“I have to pick up the pieces of my life,” DeClario said. “There are times that I wake up in the middle of the night, and I remember there is no more dog.”
DeClario said it has been her routine for the past 10 years to walk her dog late at night. Her husband works nights, and she would clean up and take the dog for a walk before he would get home.
DeClario, an artist, is distraught by the fact that because of her injuries she will loose some range of motion in her wrist. Before the accident, she was planning to display her work, but she said those plans have been postponed.
“My heart’s really heavy over that,” DeClario said. “The other disappointment is that I have too much trust in people and it has been a kick in the stomach for no one to come forward.”
DeClario said that the night of the accident, Pepperdine students had thrown a party on Ocean View Drive and were parking and driving on Latigo Canyon, where she was hit.
There were too many people there for no one to have come forward said DeClario. She also said she thinks that, at the ages of nineteen and twenty, students should know what’s right and what’s wrong.
She said that investigators looked at photos from the party and no one in the
pictures matched the description.
“Because thee were injuries we are making it a felony, but it is up to the District Attorney whether or not it is filed as a felony,” Tang said.
Shortly after learning that Pepperdine students were involved she wrote a letter to the school and it was routed to Dean of Student Affairs Mark Davis.
Ater receiving information on the accident, Davis expressed concern for DeClario’s well-being and sympathy over the loss of her pet.
“First thing Monday morning following the accident, a student representing the housemats came to me and took responsibility for the party,” Davis said in a written statement. “They did not have any information about the hit and run driver, including whether or not the driver attended the party, but agreed to cooperate fully with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) in its investigation.”
“This problem is festering and getting worse,” DeClario said. “Things point to Pepperdine students because of their age group, not because they are Pepperdine students.”
DeClario believes that the auto and gas industries encourage reckless driving by targeting the 18 to 25 age group with commercials focused on performance driving.
Fliers have been posted throughout Malibu by DeClario asking for anyone with information to call the CHP at (818) 888-0980, where tips can be left anonymously.
The flier reads: “If we see someone do something wrong and fail to say something about it, we are just as guilty as the person who committed the crime. If we know, but don’t speak out, we are also at fault. Just and courageous individuals are willing to speak up when things are wrong.”
“If students do have information, I hope they will do the right thing and come forward,” Davis said. “On the other hand, it’s not right for people to assume that the driver was a Pepperdine student just because the party occurred in the vicinity.”
For now, DeClario will wait for someone to come forward.
10-28-2004