Neighbors pay respects to hit-and-run victim

Seconds after Cory Jones lit the flame on a neighbor’s candle, a persistent, chilly breeze blew it out.

Maria Delos-Carrasco Angulo probably would not have known any of the three dozen people struggling to light candles in her memory Friday night. Yet, that scarcely mattered to Jones, 29, as he stood near a makeshift shrine of a stuffed dog and giraffe, yellow and red roses and a single cherubic picture of the hit-and-run victim in front of Becerra’s Plaza.

“It’s the point that we’re showing support for somebody who shouldn’t be gone,” said Jones, who had seen Angulo around but did not know her.

Angulo, a 25-year-old hair salon employee, died around 7:20 p.m. Thursday shortly after a Honda hatchback car struck her as she walked in a crosswalk on Fourth Plain Boulevard between Neals and Rossiter lanes. Her body came to rest near Becerra’s Plaza, an estimated 125 feet from the point where the car made impact with her.

“It’s not a caution; it’s a stop,” Jones said minutes earlier. “We’ve got kids. It’s not right.”

Jones worries about his three children as well as other children playing at nearby Evergreen Park. He called on the city’s leaders to take action.

“The fact lights weren’t changed to red the first time someone was hit here was a huge injustice,” he said.

Angulo worked once or twice per week for the past month at Alternativas Hair Salon in Becerra’s Plaza, owner Vilma Ortega said. The new employee cleaned the store sometimes and at other times assisted Ortega in her daily tasks.

Angulo moved from Salem about three months earlier and had a 3-year-old son, the owner added.

“She was a good lady. Just happy,” Ortega said as she locked up for the evening.

Like most people at the vigil, Kristi Finney did not know Angulo.

She attended the gathering to bring awareness to hit-and-run offenses. Her 28-year-old son, Dustin, died when a motorist veered into the bicycle lane, as he rode his bike on an early August morning in Southeast Portland.

“We all need to be mindful,” Finney said. “Each person out there is somebody’s wife, daughter, son, or husband.”

Police arrested Collins in the 11100 block of Northeast 43rd Circle after witnesses followed him from the scene.

Suspect in court

In court Friday, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Alan Harvey asked Judge Wulle to give Collins a $500,000 bail. Harvey pointed to the suspect’s two prior convictions for possession of a controlled substance and his fugitive hold.

Appointed attorney Suzan Clark dismissed suggestions her client was a flight risk. He has lived in Clark County 15 years and is a full-time student, Clark said.

After the hearing, Harvey said he was prepared to file charges of vehicular homicide that took into account evidence of reckless driving and driving with disregard for the safety of others. Harvey would not say whether Collins was impaired at the time of the crash, citing the investigation’s ongoing nature. However, the prosecutor did not rule out filing charges with those allegations.