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Preschool teaching assistant mourned in Hayward after car crashes onto sidewalk
Loved ones are remembering a preschool teaching assistant whose life was tragically taken Monday morning in Hayward. 26-year-old Lydia Guerra was walking to work at Ruus Elementary when an out-of-control driver struck her on the sidewalk.
HAYWARD, Calif. - Loved ones are remembering a preschool teaching assistant whose life was tragically taken on Monday morning in Hayward.
Lydia Guerra, 25, was walking to the bus stop to get to work at Ruus Elementary when an out-of-control driver struck her on the sidewalk.
"It broke my heart just seeing that young lady, I mean taken, taken away," says Tony Contreras of Hayward.
The crash happened at the intersection of Tennyson and Calaroga, a spot neighbors call notoriously dangerous.
Video captured by a nearby driver shows a vehicle careening into a parked car, a row of trees, and onto the sidewalk where Guerra had been standing.
Ronie Surla's brother was standing nearby.
"He was in shock too because he thought he was going to be hit by that guy. So he was in shock too," says Surla.
The driver of the car, a 36-year-old man, was placed on a mental health hold after the accident.
He is being treated at a nearby hospital.
Hayward police are still trying to understand how this happened.
Lydia Guerra was killed in a crash as a pedestrian in Hayward this week.
"As far as the why, we're still investigating that. But officers spoke to the driver after the accident and were able to get an incident statement from him, and they decided to place him on a mental hold," says Jessica Baneulos, with Hayward Police Department.
Neighbors say people simply drive too fast here, especially since there are two schools and a hospital nearby.
"Just this intersection, man people are running lights and doing that. I really feel like people's families are being affected. They should do some kind of speed bumps here or something, slow it down," says Ray Romprey of Hayward.
Family members describe Guerra as a ray of light: kind, thoughtful, and devoted to helping others.
She had just received her driver's license last week.
Next week, she had been planning to get a car so she would no longer have to walk to work.
"It's really, really disturbing. I feel really bad. She's very young. It shouldn't have happened. And it shouldn't happen to anybody," says neighbor Joe Martinez.
The Hayward Unified School district did send a grief counseling team here to the school to help colleagues and families cope with this loss.
Hayward pedestrian struck by SUV dies at hospital
A pedestrian who was struck by an SUV in Hayward on Monday morning has died from their injuries, officials say.