Family Of Six Wiped Out In Wreck

Friday was going to be a big day for the Gallardo family.

After months of unemployment, Carlos Granados Gallardo, the father of four, would be picking up his first paycheck at his new job.

So the family celebrated Thursday night, taking a rare trip out to a taco stand renowned for its $2.99 special. As they piled into their 1983 Cadillac Cimarron, parked at the curb on Atlantic Avenue just outside of Compton, a 1995 Dodge Ram pickup barreled through a red light behind them at 80 mph.

“You usually hear the squeal of brakes, you know,” said witness Ramon Castellanos, 39. “None of that happened.”

The pickup sideswiped one passing car, then careened into the Gallardos’ aging Cadillac. The entire family - Carlos Granados Gallardo, 27; Magdalena Lopez, 25; Carlos Jr., 8; Adriana, 4; Jesus, 3; and Jose, 1 - was wiped out, all of them dying instantly.

The driver of the pickup, James Lee Lyles, 53, of Rialto, suffered only the slightest of injuries, and after a California Highway Patrol officer smelled alcohol on his breath was booked on suspicion of second-degree murder, officials said. His female passenger also suffered minor injuries.

On Friday, relatives and friends of the Gallardos, in churches, stores and apartments throughout southeast Los Angeles County, grappled with grief.

As investigators continued to pry through the crash wreckage, passers-by who had never met the Gallardos broke down in tears.

“Everybody’s just shocked,” said Leo Mayorga, 28, a distant relative who was to be Jose’s godfather. “It’s not an easy thing to accept.”

The Gallardo family last year moved out of a modest apartment in a blue-collar Compton neighborhood to their own rented Spanish-style house across town.

They were trying to buy a house, Mayorga said. “That was one of their dreams.”

But those dreams were derailed in December, when Gallardos was laid off from his job at a trucking company. Lopez’s salary from her job at a drive-through restaurant supported the family.

“They were going through tough times,” Mayorga said.

Still, the family stayed together as much as possible, with Gallardo taking Carlos Jr. to play soccer, or the entire family going on outings to a local park or to the ocean, or shopping.

Finally, Gallardo found work this month. On Aug. 2 he became a salesman at J.C. Penney in Carson. Co-workers remember him as an affable, happy man, with a firm handshake, determined to guide his family through hard times.

On Thursday, Gallardo had the day off. He watched the kids at home, then drove to Paramount to pick up his wife when she finished work. The whole family headed to Tacos El Unico to celebrate Gallardo’s imminent paycheck.