Pedestrian breaks wrist in accident

GLENDALE — An 82-year-old woman broke her wrist Thursday morning after she was struck at Pacific and California avenues by a motorist, police said.

The woman was walking in a marked crosswalk just after 10:30 a.m. in the intersection when the driver, Juleta Haroutuyan, made a left turn from California Avenue onto Pacific Avenue and possibly struck the senior, Glendale Police Officer Rich Ulrich said.

The woman, whose name was not released, couldn’t remember what happened or how she was hit, he said.

Haroutuyan, who wasn’t cited, told officers the senior fell off the curb and into her car.

“I swear I didn’t hit her,” she told police.

The woman was taken to a local hospital, where Ulrich said she was treated for a broken wrist.

Thursday’s incident is the fourth pedestrian-related accident in Glendale since Saturday.

Herbert Davis struck 16-year-old Charmaine Alcantara with his SUV on Saturday as she rode her bicycle on Los Feliz Road.

Davis was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs when he hit Alcantara, who was headed home from taking a college entry exam. Davis struck a power box, sideswiped a car and plowed through a set of newspaper racks during the crash, police said.

On Monday, two pedestrians sitting on a bus bench were injured after a vehicle hit the bench as it swerved to avoid crashing into another car on Brand Boulevard.

That same day, a motorist struck Arbi Markousian on Colorado Street while walking to his car. As that motorist approached, Markousian tried to run away but was clipped by the car’s side mirror, Glendale Police Det. William Frommling said.

Markousian fell to the ground between his car and another parked vehicle, Frommling said.

The motorist didn’t stop to help him.

A witness who saw the accident called police and gave them the car’s license plate number, he said.

Police followed up with the car’s registered owner, 27-year-old Esther Zepeda-Ortiz, and arrested her after they found her sitting on the steps of her home with a beer in her hand, Frommling said.

At the city jail, she scuffled with authorities and injured an officer’s wrist, he added.

Zepeda-Ortiz pleaded not guilty Wednesday to driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol when she struck Markousian. She was also charged with one felony count of driving under the influence and causing injury, one felony count of leaving the scene of an accident, a misdemeanor count of battery on a custodial officer and driving on a suspended license, according to the criminal complaint.

She was held in lieu of $170,000 bail in a Los Angeles County jail, and is expected to appear May 14 at Burbank Superior Court for a preliminary hearing, said Shiara Dávila-Morales, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles district attorney’s office.

If convicted, Zepeda-Ortiz faces a maximum of three years and eight months in state prison, Dávila-Morales said.