The Riverside County coroner’s office has confirmed the identity of a teenager struck and killed when she ran in front of a sheriff’s patrol car in Perris, California, while allegedly fleeing a store from which she had stolen merchandise. She was Leticia Ramirez, 15, identified earlier by Perris Union High School District officials. The freshman at Perris High School was fatally injured shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday in the 1600 block of North Perris Boulevard, just north of Nuevo Road, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Officer Dan Olivas told City News Service that Ramirez allegedly snatched items from the shelf of a Rite Aid store and ran eastbound across Perris Boulevard to get away. “A Riverside County sheriff’s deputy was responding to an unrelated routine call for service and happened to be passing the location,” Olivas said. “The pedestrian ran into the side of his vehicle and suffered major injuries.” Olivas said it appeared the girl was clipped by the driver’s side fender of the northbound patrol unit and then rolled into the windshield. The deputy was not hurt. Ramirez was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where she died a short time later. [Source: MyNews LA]