Toddler is fatally hit by suspected drunk driver in Rialto

Josslyn Lee Dinoso-Brooks

The second child, and only daughter, born to Glenda Brooks, Josslyn was loved by all who knew her. Josslyn leaves behind two brothers, Dustin and Gavin. Josslyn’s heart valves have been donated to so that others can live; in our hearts and in their bodies, Josslyn lives on. To see more photos of Josslyn click here.

The child was biking with her family when an SUV hit them on a sidewalk. Her mother, father and brother sustain broken bones and other injuries. The suspect faces vehicular manslaughter charge.

By Joanna Lin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

A young girl was killed and her mother, father and year-old brother seriously injured when a suspected drunk driver struck the family while they were out on a bicycle ride Sunday afternoon in Rialto, officials said.

The suspect, Jesse Rolando Astorga, 27, of Phelan, Calif., has been charged with murder, said Lt. Joe Cirilo of the Rialto Police Department. He is being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga in lieu of $1 million bail.

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  Jesse Rolando Astorga

Astorga was fleeing the scene of a nearby hit-and-run crash when he lost control of his SUV, which jumped the sidewalk and hit the victims, Cirilo said.

Astorga was driving north in the 200 block of Willow Avenue as the family biked south on the sidewalk about noon Sunday, Cirilo said. The children were being pulled by their father’s bike in a two-wheeled basket, he said.

Cirilo said Astorga had been driving erratically and at a high speed down the road, which he said pedestrians and bicyclists frequently travel.

“He just wiped out the entire family,” he said.

The dead girl was identified as Josslyn Dinoso-Brooks, who was less than 3 weeks shy of her second birthday, according to the San Bernardino County coroner’s office. Police had said earlier that she was 2 years old.

The girl was pronounced dead at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton less than an hour after the accident. Her parents, William Dean Dinoso, 28, and Glenda Brooks, 26, and her brother were hospitalized with broken bones and internal injuries, authorities said.

As of this morning, Brooks was in “fair condition,” said a spokesperson at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Hospital officials could not comment on the condition of the little boy.

Officials at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center declined to comment on Dinoso’s condition. Cirilo said his officers are in contact with him and that he is in “serious but stable condition.”

Cirilo said police found Astorga after the victim in the hit-and-run followed him for a couple of miles and notified authorities.

Astorga, who authorities said also tried to flee the fatal crash, was arrested when his 2008 Honda Pilot hit a curb and stalled.

Cirilo said police and community members are “very emotional” and shocked by the fatal accident.

“It’s been 29 years for me on the Police Department. We’ve seen a lot of tragedies, but when you have an innocent family taking a ride on a Sunday afternoon, hit by someone who violates the law . . . there is no excuse for that,” he said. Astorga has “not only impacted that family, [he has] impacted this community.”