Car hits mom, son in Stanton 
The driver says his accelerator jammed in a shopping center parking lot. 

June 9, 2001

By RACHANEE SRISAVASDI
The Orange County Register 


Stanton A 90-year-old man lost control of his car after backing out of a 
parking space Friday and ran into a woman and her 5-year-old son, seriously 
injuring them, police said. 

The Anaheim man said the accelerator of his BMW was stuck as he shifted into 
forward and that he couldn't avoid hitting Aurora Sanchez, 36, and her son, 
police said. The accident occurred at 12:05 p.m. in the Magnolia Center 
shopping plaza, 10568 Magnolia Ave.

The driver identified himself to a reporter as Ludwig Woelfl, but he declined 
to comment further.

Before the impact, Sanchez was holding the hands of her 3- and 5-year-old 
sons on the sidewalk outside A-Plus Income Tax Service, said the center's 
owner, Isabelle Parikh. Sanchez, of Anaheim, suffered a hip injury and her 
5-year-old son suffered serious head trauma, Orange County sheriff's 
spokesman Jim Amormino said.

They were taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange. Neither the driver nor the 
3-year-old son was hurt.

Woelfl's car was traveling 30 mph when it struck the victims, Amormino said. 
The car then knocked down a support beam, hit the building and ricocheted 
into two parked cars, he said.

Police are examining the car to look for mechanical problems, Amormino said.

Woelfl had just left the Take Five restaurant, where he always has coffee and 
watches the morning news, manager Wink O'Reilly said.

Young Yoo, 42, who owns a dental business at the center, felt the impact of 
Woelfl's car into the building.

"I thought it was an earthquake. Then I went outside and saw the mother and 
son on the floor,'' Yoo said.

Parikh said the mother held her injured son until help came. Woelfl told her 
he tried to stop the car.

"He was in shock; he was just white-faced,'' Parikh said.