Toddler's death splits grieving family apart
Hit-and-run drunk driver to be sentenced this month
Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

Alex Hurd

A for-sale sign hangs outside the spacious split-level home on Windsor Court, a quiet residential street in Camarillo that ends in a cul-de-sac of neatly kept lawns.

Less than a year ago, the four-bedroom home was busy with the hustle and bustle of a young family's daily adventures. The rooms, once filled with the boundless energy of two young boys, are now empty and quiet.

The Hurd family has moved away from the neighborhood they lived in for only two years. The memories of the home and the city they once loved were too much to bear.

Each place was a painful reminder of their 19-month-old son, Alex.

Nearly a year ago, the toddler with a button nose and chocolate-brown eyes was killed when the family's minivan was struck by a pickup truck driven by 42-year-old David Mark of Camarillo.

Police later said that Mark's blood alcohol level was two-and-a-half times above the 0.08 percent legal driving limit.

It wasn't the first time that Mark, a former mechanic who lived with his parents, had been caught drunk behind the wheel.

Last month, following a brief preliminary hearing in September, Mark pleaded no contest to multiple charges stemming from the accident, including DUI manslaughter, gross negligence and fleeing the scene of an accident. A previous drunk driving conviction was also admitted.

He is due back in court May 23 for sentencing. Prosecutors will ask Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kevin J. McGee to hand down an 18-year prison sentence- enhanced by the fact that Mark left the scene of the crash and faced a second strike of felony DUI.

That sentence, though, offers little solace to Devin Hurd and Kelly Williams, Alex's parents, who said Mark's last-minute admission came just moments before a jury was set to be called to try the case.

"No amount of time he spends in prison would be sufficient for the pain and suffering he caused our family," Williams said.

According to court records, eyewitness testimony put Mark at the scene of the accident and a forensics report showed investigators found a torn piece of the sunshade from the family's minivan wedged into the tangled metal of Mark's truck's bumper.

"The evidence simply nailed him (Mark) to the cross," said Senior Dep. John Popp of the Camarillo Police Department.

The accident

On the afternoon of June 3, 2006 the Hurd family had just pulled out of their Camarillo driveway, headed to the mall for a shopping trip for summer clothes.

Hurd was driving. Williams sat in the passenger seat. Alex was secured in a child seat behind his father and older son Ryan, 6, was sitting in the rear seat of the family's silver 2002 Toyota Sienna.

Across town, Mark was running errands in his brown 1977 Silverado Chevy pickup truck. The half-ton truck sat on large, raised tires.

Popp said Mark's friends later told police he had been drinking for the better part of the day before he headed out into Saturday afternoon traffic.

According to receipts police found in Mark's truck, he'd made stops at the Staples offices supply store off Las Posas Road, spent time at All-City Computer on Daily Drive and visited a nearby hobby shop to buy toy rockets.

Around 1:30 p.m. the two vehicles arrived at the intersection of Glenbrook Avenue and Las Posas Road. The Hurds' minivan was pulling through the busy intersection when it was struck by the pickup truck. According to police, the light was changing to yellow when the crash occurred. Popp speculated that Mark was probably trying to beat the red light

Mark's pickup was raised so high that the truck's bumper was level with the minivan's windows. Popp said the bumper peeled off the front of the pickup and struck Alex in the head.

"It was a fluke," Popp said. "If it hadn't been for the bumper bending back, there wouldn't have been a fatality."

Alex died later that night at St. John's Regional Medical Center, where he had been treated for head injuries.

Minutes after the collision, Mark drove away- hoping to escape, not realizing he was being followed by 18-year-old Jeffrey Ogne. The quick-thinking pizza delivery driver trailed Mark from the accident scene to a nearby home where Mark had been drinking with friends earlier that day, police said.

"The pizza man was the real hero," Popp said. "If it hadn't been for him, it would have taken us a lot longer and more work to find the guy."

Popp said that because police were able to arrest Mark within minutes after the accident, they were able to prove he had been driving under the influence of alcohol.

Ogne was recognized for his actions by Camarillo city officials last September. Another motorist, Jason Thomas Smith, also identified Mark as the driver of the pickup truck.

The little boy

Described by his father as strong-willed, Alex was thought of as the life of the family.

"He had a real way of making everyone in the family move all the time because he wasn't one for sitting still," Hurd said.

The toddler enjoyed family outings to the beach and the park, Hurd said, and was happiest when he was outdoors with his family.

"He was really just getting his legs under him and starting to get his language to express what he wanted to do," Hurd said. "He had just started running. He had just skinned his knee the day before the accident."

A family divided

Shortly after Mark pleaded no contest to the charges, the Hurd family, who had moved to Camarillo from Seattle, packed their belongings and moved away.

Hurd now works in Baltimore, Md. His wife and son Ryan moved to Ontario, Canada, to be with her family.

He said the family is still healing, and they want Mark to take full responsibility for the fatal crash.

"We really did need him to take responsibility because up until that point he's been trying to flee responsibility for such an awful thing," Hurd said.

Williams said she's frustrated that Mark's parents didn't do more to keep their middle-aged son off the road.

"We feel like his family must have known he was a habitual drunk driver, and they shouldn't have let him out on the road in the most menacing vehicle possible," Williams said.

Mark's family declined to comment when asked about their son.

The Hurds will return to Camarillo later this month for Mark's sentencing. That day, Hurd said, will be bittersweet.

"In the end, I think that being a worthless human being is something that he can only aspire to at this point, because his debt is so enormous for what he has taken away and how little he has given to this world," Hurd said.