Crash victim would have turned 51 today
By JEREMY KUTNER AND JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writers
Memorials have been held for two of the three Santa Monica victims in last week’s deadly accident at the farmer’s market.
All three victims died at the scene after 86-year-old Russell Weller apparently lost control of his car and drove through the crowded market, leaving 10 dead and 79 injured.
A funeral for Movsha “Michael” Hoffman, 78, was held earlier this week.
Hoffman was a retired manager of a large construction company who immigrated to California from Lithuania. He and his wife, Esther, 73, moved to Santa Monica in 1988.
The pair celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on July 13, just three days before the fatal accident.
Esther Hoffman was with her husband at the time of the accident and was also struck by Weller’s car. She was taken to Santa Monica-UCLA Hospital where she was treated for a broken left shoulder, broken arm, broken leg and three broken ribs.
One of the Hoffman’s sons, Boris, said his mother appeared to have a concussion, and her nose was blue and bleeding. After undergoing surgery to have a pin installed in her shoulder, Esther Hoffman was released from the hospital Wednesday and taken to a community rehabilitation center, where she is recovering, said hospital spokesman Ted Braun.
“All of it happened on her left side,” Boris Hoffman said. “She was brushed away. I don’t think she remembers anything particularly, but (Michael) was going in the middle of the passage and suddenly she was away from him.
“She is doing pretty well now,” he added. “She is walking a little bit already and goes to the bathroom herself. These are important things. She is a strong woman, very energetic. She never gives up.”
Boris Hoffman said his dad loved Santa Monica and enjoyed reading, poetry, fishing and staying active in a local Jewish-Yiddish club. Michael Hoffman is survived by two sons and one daughter, and four grandchildren, aged three to 26, all girls.
“He was in excellent shape,” Boris Hoffman said Friday, adding that his father spoke in and translated between five languages. “He was reading, he was enjoying himself and having a good time.”
Two other local people lost their lives in last week’s accident. One of them was Leroy Lattier, 55, a former homeless man who was hired to help clean up Arizona Avenue after market vendors had left.
Lattier’s friends gathered Thursday night to share their memories and commemorate his life.
“Leroy was a beautiful person,” said Virgil Hill, director of Turning Point, a transitional housing facility in Santa Monica where Lattier recently lived. Looking out over the nearly 50 people who came to the memorial service, Hill added, “It is a testimony to Leroy that all of you are here.”
Lattier’s work ethic impressed many who lived with him at Turning Point. He struggled with diabetes and came to Santa Monica from Louisiana to find medical care that wouldn’t require his legs to be amputated, as doctors had suggested.
“He was the hardest working person I ever met,” one Turning Point resident said. “He was homeless but he wasn’t hopeless.”
“Sometimes I just can’t face it. They say she’s dead, but I need to see her. I need to feel her, touch her. She’s in my thoughts.” — — VIRGINIA MERCADO Sister of victim
Lattier, who recently moved out of the transitional facility and rented his own apartment, had a warmth and charm that reached beyond the homeless community.
Jonathan and Fahima Grant, of Santa Monica, attended the memorial even though they had only met him once. Jonathan Grant said he and his wife were at the farmer’s market on the day of the crash and had briefly eaten pizza with Lattier.
“We only shared a few words but what a beautiful smile he had,” Jonathan Grant said. “As we left he said, ‘God bless you.’ We felt that we needed to come here tonight to show our support and our love too.”
Despite his ongoing struggle with diabetes, Lattier was described by friends as an animated man.
“He had such flare about him,” one Turning Point resident said. Others recalled him as an avid sports fan, a fast-talking entertainer and a gentleman.
“He used to meet me at seven in the morning when I’d come through the door,” Hill said. “He would turn himself in and tell me, ‘I got into an argument with so-and-so over the remote,’ wanting to get it off his chest. He was that kind of guy.
334,“I know he’s up there looking down now and saying, ‘Ha ha. Look at all my friends,’” Hill added, smiling.
Rosemary Prior, a friend of Lattier’s who organized the memorial, said Lattier sometimes bumped heads with people, but the goodness of his character always emerged.
After Lattier and Prior had a falling out, Prior approached Lattier in hopes of making peace.
“He signed the peace treaty,” Prior said. “He had such spirit. His decision to reconcile with me was the catalyst for me to want to organize this. Most people would have just walked away.”
Though Lattier’s friends said they would miss him, many took comfort in the thought that he is now in a better place.
“I know he’s up in heaven and his legs aren’t hurting, and he’s feeling really good,” one resident said. “I just thank God for my having met him.”
The third local person to die in last week’s accident had only been in Santa Monica for five weeks.
Theresa Breglia, 50, flew to California from the Bronx June 8. She was apparently was looking for housing and a job in Santa Monica so that she could save money to travel to Moreno Valley.
It was there that Breglia hoped to find her ex-husband, Steven, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and lives with his sister.
Coroner’s officials said it appears Theresa Breglia, who had a history of mental illness, was homeless during the brief time she was in Santa Monica. Her sister, Virginia Mercado, said she received a handful of letters from Breglia but still doesn’t know where she was staying or what she was doing at the time of the accident.
Theresa Breglia’s body is being kept at the LA Coroner’s Office because her family does not have the means to fly it home to the east coast. They are hopeful that funds set up for victims and their families will be available to help them.
The uncertainty over how her sister spent her final days and who she spent them with has made Mercado distraught, she said. Anyone with information about Theresa Breglia should contact Rob Piubeni at the Daily Press at (310) 458-7737. Piubeni, an ad salesman and a trained emergency medical technician, was with Breglia at the time of her death and is in contact with Mercado.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 26, 2003. Read the original PDF.