A crowd gathered Sunday night at an emotional vigil for a 28-year-old man killed while riding home on his motorcycle last month, the fatal crash witnessed by his fiancée who was following him home.
Ring video at a nearby home captured the aftermath of the crash just moments after Joey Loulakis was struck by a driver making a U-turn in the 5400 block of Monterey Road in Montecito Heights.
The newly engaged man’s fiancée, Zaira Regino, pulled over, put her emergency lights on and ran to him.
“I held his hand. I told him to look at me,” she told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo. “I said, ‘I love you, Joey.’ He said, ‘I love you too, Zaira.’”
Joey Loulakis, 28, a resident of Montecito Heights seen in this undated photo. (Sandra Loulakis)
Joey Loulakis, 28, a resident of Montecito Heights seen in this undated family photo. (Sandra Loulakis)
Joey Loulakis, 28, a resident of Montecito Heights seen in this undated family photo. (Sandra Loulakis)
Joey Loulakis, 28, a resident of Montecito Heights seen in this undated photo. (Erk G. via GoFundMe)
While police are investigating the crash as a tragic accident, the 28-year-old’s devastated mother, Sandra Loulakis said the actions of the woman behind the wheel of the car who struck her son were negligent.
Witnesses said that while she stayed at the scene of the accident, she never exited her vehicle and attempted to render air. She was reportedly driving on expired registration and was uninsured.
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Joey’s family, his mother and father, say they are destroyed at the loss.
“It’s an unreal feeling,” Brandon Loulakis, Joey’s brother, told KTLA. “I really just feel like I’m waiting for him to come home. I’m waiting to get that call from him, ‘Hey, what’re you doing, where you at?’ I know that’s really not going to come.”
A GoFundMe has been organized for the family, who, while seeking justice for the 28-year-old, say they are also trying to raise awareness.
“I want to help every mom out there to not go through what I’m going through for negligence,” Sandra said.
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