Santa Ana, CA, October 8 – A 72-year-old woman died after a vehicle struck her while she was crossing Main Street in Santa Ana early Monday, the Santa Ana Police Department said. She was identified as Sarinana Gaytan Rutilia, a Santa Ana resident. Police said she was walking westbound across the street when a southbound vehicle hit her. The exact circumstances that led to the crash have not yet been confirmed.
Santa Ana Pedestrian, 72, Killed in Main Street Crash
Santa Ana police said the crash took place around 6:27 a.m. on Monday, October 5, 2026, near the intersection of Main Street and Cubbon Street. Emergency crews, including Santa Ana police officers and Orange County Fire Authority personnel, treated Sarinana at the scene, but she did not survive and was pronounced dead there.
The driver stayed at the location following the crash and worked with investigators, according to the Santa Ana Police Department. Police said the driver showed no signs of impairment. The department’s Collision Investigation Unit has since taken over the case and is working to determine exactly how the crash occurred.
Several details about the crash remain undisclosed. Police have not released a description of the vehicle involved or said whether the driver will face any citations. It is also not yet clear what caused the vehicle to strike Sarinana as she crossed the street. No further updates in the investigation have been made public.
What California law requires of drivers around pedestrians
Vehicle Code section 21950 requires a driver to yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing within any marked crosswalk, or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. Subdivision (b) is the one people misread: a pedestrian may walk or run, and doing either does not forfeit the right of way.
Subdivision (c) puts a separate duty on the driver. A driver approaching a pedestrian in any crosswalk must exercise all due care and reduce the speed of the vehicle. That duty applies whether or not the pedestrian had the right of way, and subdivision (d) preserves it: nothing in the section relieves a driver of the duty to use due care for the safety of any pedestrian in the roadway.
The deadline that applies to a claim like this one
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The same two years covers an injury claim and a death claim; there is no separate, shorter period because someone died.
Who is entitled to bring a claim when someone is killed
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides who may bring a wrongful death action. The first group is the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, whoever would take the estate by intestate succession.
A second group may bring the action only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the person who died where the parents are deceased. Parents are in that second group, which is the part families are most often surprised by, because dependency has to be shown rather than assumed.
Talking to someone about it
Culver Legal represents people injured in collisions across California. A conversation about what happened costs nothing, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we win. If we do not win, we do not pass the case costs on to you either.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about any particular case, and the facts of a reported collision often change as the investigation continues.
