The Antelope Valley Times

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Memorial established for toddler killed in crash

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Residents created a makeshift memorial Friday at 10th Street West and Avenue I, the site where two-year-old Madison Ruano was killed in a collision with a driver fleeing deputies.

LANCASTER – Candles, teddy bears, and flowers marked the spot Friday morning (Dec. 7) where a Lancaster toddler was killed by a driver fleeing deputies the night before.

The two-year-old girl has been identified as Madison Ruano, according to Lancaster Station deputy Miguel T. Ruiz. Ruano’s mother, whose name has not been released by authorities, is currently in serious but stable condition at the hospital, Ruiz said.

Mother and daughter were riding in a blue Lexus going northbound on 10th Street West around 4:56 p.m. Thursday, when their vehicle was struck by a black Toyota that ran a red light.

The Toyota’s driver, identified Friday as 45-year-old Marvin Hicks, was fleeing deputies at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour at the time of the crash, authorities said. (Read more here.)

Marvin Hicks is charged with felony vehicular manslaughter and evading a peace officer.

Hicks, who also suffered injuries in the collision, was treated and released from the hospital into police custody Thursday night, Ruiz said.

He was booked at Lancaster Sheriff’s Station for vehicular manslaughter and evading a peace officer and is being held on $1 million bail, Ruiz said.

Hicks has a criminal history dating back to 1995, according to Los Angeles Superior Court records.

In June of 1995, Hicks was convicted of reckless driving; in August that same year, Hicks was convicted of misdemeanor hit and run; in October of 2001, Hicks was convicted of driving under the influence; and in April of this year, Hicks was convicted of vandalism, according to court records.

Hicks was also held to answer to an attempted burglary charge in December of 2011; and in October of this year, Hicks was charged with battery and being under the influence of a controlled substance, according to court records.

Hicks may also have been under the influence of a controlled substance during Thursday night’s collision, Ruiz said.

“That’s what deputies on scene observed,” Ruiz said. “Blood was drawn from him while he was in custody, and we’re still waiting for the toxicology report.”

A facebook page to honor Madison Ruano’s memory and a memorial fundraiser were set up online Friday.

A memorial fundraiser has been set up for the Ruano family.

“Baby Madison was born prematurely at 25 weeks, after a long traumatic labor and delivery. Tina and Madison’s lives were both threatened but, by the grace of God, they both survived. Madison was 1 lb 14oz at birth and lived in the hospital for the first few months of her life. She came home to her dad, Mike and mom, Tina, at just over 4 lbs… Our hearts are breaking for this precious family. We know that Madison is now in the arms of our dear Lord, Jesus. We are thankful for her life and the short time that we had her with us,” reads the facebook page. View it here.

As of 6 p.m. Friday, the memorial fundraiser had already raised more than $1,500 towards it $10,000 fundraising goal. To donate to this effort, click here.

Anyone who may have witnessed the pursuit and fatal collision Thursday is asked to contact Lancaster Station’s Traffic Unit at 661-940-3811.

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60 comments for "Memorial established for toddler killed in crash"

  1. My family went to church with baby Madison’s family. While we didn’t really know each other that well, my mother had taken care of Madison in the church’s nursery, and she was a friend of my two-year-old brother. When we first heard the news, it was horrible…as humans, we really don’t think much of these situations until it affects us. Anyways, I am praying for their family, as this is a very rough time for them. May you rest in the arms of God, precious Madison.

  2. My condolences to the family of Madison. That’s the point of commenting here isn’t it??? To remember the little girl. This man should serve a full life sentence in jail… all of you saying he should be murdered are as awful as him. I think he should live a long long life in prison where he would have to live with his mistakes… Death would be fast and easy compared to life in prison always having to watch your back and your butthole.. Yeah the sheriffs out here are not the best… That same night my boyfriend was nearly crushd by a crazy man in a car that tried to run him over with his car. You think the sheriffs found him??? No… But let there be a black guy riding a bike down the street I guarantee at least 3 or 4 squad cars will be there to harass him… Its ridiculous

  3. So tragic for this beautiful little girl’s life to end like this. All she went through when she was born and now to die such a senseless death? My thoughts and prayers are with her family. I pray that justice is served and Mr. Hicks is punished to the fullest extent of the law. I am so sorry for the family’s loss.

  4. I am so sorry for the loss of this young and beautiful child my heart goes out to her family.
    I have been a resident of the AV since 1969, and I have to say I have always felt the sheriff’s here have always reacted over the top and if you notice most on the force are young with attitudes it is like we are the learning facility for rookies who are still green and need more seasoning.

    • Why are you posting about your opinions regarding Deputies in this valley?

      How many deputies do you actually deal with in your regular day to day life?

      Their actions this night had nothing to do with this poor girls death, so please stop trying to move the blame off Hicks and onto the deputies.

      Read my post that I wrote regarding Sandrita if you believe other wise.

    • Why don’t you blame the driver that was speeding and driving recklessly BEFORE the Sheriff’s Dept even started following him!
      Why don’t you wait for all of the facts before judging the Sheriff’s Dept. Do you know the deputies specifically involved? Age date of hire etc?
      I’m so sick of people blaming law enforcment and their handling of situations involving criminals rather than the criminals themselves.

    • Our deputies do a phenomenal job, look at the bottom feeders they have to deal with.Their learning facility is the county jail system, bet they get plenty of seasoning.

    • Your comments towards law enforcement here in the valley makes me think maybe you have been cuffed a time or two!?!? Or have family members locked up …..and for no reason, right? The cops just target you?!? Funny how the ones with negative remarks regarding AV deputies have had a few run ins with em :P sick and tired of people putting the blame on the deputies!!!
      Hicks is the only one to blame for that sweet little girl losing her life!!!

  6. Obviously, the L.A. County Sheriff and High Patrol that work here in the A.V. are not schooled on how to perform a high speed chase. The streets ahead of Hicks should have been secured because they knew where he was headed…duh. I would have been sensible enough to order deputies towards each upcoming intersection to stop traffic. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know there’s danger ahead; a lot of cars and people crossing the street, etc. I know there was enough time to make this call because from what the news reports state, Hicks ran red light at Sierra Hwy. and Ave. J and was driving too damn fast. There was indeed time to secure Lancaster Blvd., Ave I and 10th St. West and Ave. I. Convict Hicks, but find out what went wrong with the police pursuit. Poor Madison, R.I.P. little angel.

    • How nice of you to tell the sheriffs what they should have done now that you’ve had two whole days to plan it all out…

      For real though, you can’t blame law enforcement response for this criminal’s actions. If the pursuit was less that a minute like the sheriffs are claiming, that is hardly enough time to block off any roads. I think the sheriffs did the best job they could, given the circumstances.

      If you’re looking for someone to blame for that poor child’s death, please direct your energy to that animal Marvin Hicks!!!!

    • There was not enough time for all that! How dare u blame law enforcement for the actions of that maniac!! He was driving 100mph! There was no way to predict where he might have turned etc…. Which makes it very difficult to set up road blocks, even ifthey had the time. All the blame is on that POS Marvin Hicks!!! Hope gets what he deserves and more!! May sweet Madison rest in peace <3

    • Ok, he was going over 100 mph speeding up sierra hwy… so cops should go about 500 mph in order to block off the streets a mile away…. good logic there

    • Sandrita: I’ve seen many ignorant posts from you in the past, but this one takes the cake. You obviously have no common sense, and probably didn’t graduate from the 3rd grade. If you had, you would’ve known that even using radios, there was NO possibility the Sheriff units could have known what route this piece of filth would take, then set up “roadblocks” on his path. You are a fine example of yet another idiot in this Valley (and society) who believes the police are to blame for these types of incidents, instead of putting the blame where it belongs, ON THE CRIMINAL. I suppose if Deputies had NOT at least tried to pursue this waste of oxygen, you’d be complaining about that too.

      • Alright Sandrita, let’s cover the basics.

        1) The perp was already driving at excessive speeds and recklessly BEFORE police became involved. That means this accident could have happened (or another) whether law enforcement became involved or not.

        2) Law Enforcement will not conduct PITs, spike strips, roadblocks, etc in high volume/traffic areas because it will make the situation even MORE dangerous than it already was.

        3) Law Enforcement was following him only a short time, not enough time to get the helicopter up and in the sky to follow him.

        Weather conditions (ice on the rotors, high winds, etc) can hinder aerial surveillance times as well.

        4) Without aerial surveillance for someone this dangerous, chances are they were following to keep visual, and I am sure some deputies already knew that no matter what they did there was going to be an accident (which is why the unmarked unit followed.)

        5) Even with high speeds and great radio communication, there is no way to get patrol units synced to do roadblocks when a vehicle is traveling at high speeds in high to moderate volume traffic.

        What does happen is if he rolls into a subdivision of cookie cutter houses, they will secure the whole block (units will roll to every entrance/exit path as fast as possible) while the first 3 units or so in the pursuit follow the suspect around inside.

        That situation did not present itself.

        6) In all reality, there is only one person responsible for this accident, and it is Hicks. The deputies did not make him speed and drive recklessly before they were even near him. He did, he chose to do it. If he was high or drunk, he chose to do that as well. No one forced him to. It was all by his own choice.

        Hicks killed the toddler by choosing the actions he did. It is completely reasonable to assume that Hicks probably would have killed someone that night no matter what if he kept driving in the method he did.

    • Perhaps you should change your handle to ignorant or deluded? You obviously have not read ANY of the articles on this story and assumed this crash occurred because of a police pursuit. FACT: Hicks was driving recklessly well before he was intercepted by law enforcement. FACT: Persons had already called to report Hicks’ dangerous driving (see posts). FACT: The sheriff had an obligation to try to stop Hicks because of his dangerous behavior. Given the above, most LOGICAL and INTELLIGENT persons can assume this horrific accident would have occurred with or without any sheriff within a country mile of Hicks. The only person to blame for this senseless tragedy is Hicks. Merry Christmas Sandita, please ask SANTA, Moses or the Kwanza God for the gift of common sense.

  7. This man sure be up for murder not manslaughter. The first time someone who is guilty of DUI should not be able to get a Driver license in any state.

    • I hope they convict him for murder. However, I am sure that animal’s defense attorney will fight for the lesser crime of vehicular manslaughter. We need to abolish AB109. That assembly bill is putting these monsters back in the streets when they should have stayed in prison.

  8. I’d have him sent straight to central (jail) and release him to general as a baby killer. He’d receive his due punishment from the other criminals.

    • @Bob

      Yep this guy, when he’s eventually convicted, is going to have to watch his back in prison. While killing a child in a drunk driving crime does not make him as big a target in prison as say a child abusing pervert, he will definitely not be on the good side of the other criminals.

      • I have been around the “prison block” for awhile, once the other convicts learn he is a baby killer..no matter how it happened.. he will be a huge target. once you walk in there, they look at your paperwork. Not good for this creep!! I am sure now, he is housed possibly in high security due to the media, etc but he wont be protected forever. He deserves nothing less than torture and death. I saw this accident and it disgusts me!

    • I wish that will truly be the case but that is all movie hype. Those prisoner are chilling and a fight every once in a while. Praying for the family..

  10. This has to be increased to Murder! He took a young life while consciously committing another crime! That’s Murder!

    RIP Madison.

  12. It’s pieces of garbage like this who mingle among us with the mindset that THEY are the only ones on this planet! Shooting him at the scene or executing him is not what I would do. I would lock him away in an underground vault for life and let his craving for drugs eat him alive! If he survives that he can then be fed a steady dose of newspaper articles and videos 24/7 of the injustice be committed, over and over again! My prayers and thoughts go out to the entire family suffering this tragedy.

  13. Save more innocent lives, buy a $0.25 bullet and put this evil person out of his misery. He will kill again and we know justice will not prevail. The only true justice is to protect people from him because he will be back on the streets killing and ruining more families.

  14. people like this are like mad dogs! Its only about his needs. We need to put him down like the dog he is. My prays go out to the family for there
    lost.

    • AS my Sister would say who worked in an Animal Hospital, Give them the Blue Juice and Transfer to Jesus… In his case transfer to HELL…

  15. How many innocent people have to die because of these ghetto people? First it was the guy who owned the computer store who was shot during a robbery and now its this toddler- both innocent! I hate ghetto thugs!

    • Ghetto person, not ghetto people. The two murders (yes I said murders) are not related, so please don’t go down that road. Civilization has come to far.

      • go down what “road” exactly?

        We have a class of people in this valley now who aren’t law abiding and who have been given free stuff their whole lives through EBT, Section 8, county welfare dept, etc.

        Whose going “down the road” exactly? I think you are barking at the wrong person here, Beervana.

  16. I do often wonder what was the exact make and model of the vehicles involved in these collisions. We have a “blue Lexus.” Color has nothing to do with the vehicle’s ability to protect its passengers in a crash. But I do wonder what model, and I wish the media would report year, make and model as a routine practice.

    • I agree because this might be a Lexus that was either older model or something went wrong…the picture of the Lexus looks like it’s cut out towards the back. The child was secured in a car seat so the mother is responsible. I need an explanation as to how the murderers car (looks like same size as Lexus) throw it up so bad. Does it has to do mainly the speed he was going? By the way I am not a hick.

    • Well, thanks everyone for the overwhelming thumbs-down. But seriously, I understand the media generally just reports what the police publish in their press releases, but what does the vehicle color matter, and is the make of the vehicle really meaningful to the story without the model? Should a discerning reader make some sort of conclusion based on the fact that a “black Toyota” (Solara, I can tell from the picture) creamed a “blue Lexus?” How did Madison die? Was her car seat ejected, meaning the seat or vehicle’s safety system failed, or did she receive a blunt force impact from a car pillar? What was the make and model of her child seat? I have kids of my own, not much older than Madison. This story hit me just as hard as I’m sure it did pretty much all of the rest of you, and I take this to heart. You all can give me as many thumbs-down and give Notagain!!!! as many thumbs-up as you want; I really don’t need the affirmation of this site’s readers. I just want to know some useful details so I can make informed choices to try to protect myself and my family from [self-removed] like Hicks. I use Britax car seats because I can afford them and they have some of the best safety reputation in the industry. But I know a certain number of kids are still going to die in Britax seats in serious enough crashes, like this one certainly looks like it could’ve been.

      • Gee, JR, do you think if you were tboned at 100 mph it wouldn’t make much difference what kind of car seat your child was in?

        • Exactly what I said at the end of my comment… but even at 100 mph, the specific model of vehicle or even child seat could make a difference. *Could*.

  18. you selfish son of a [removed]..rot in hell! you killed this innocent baby..hope those drugs or alcohol was worth it..if the pathetic criminal system had done it’s job, this sweet child would still be with her parents, and you would have been locked up where you belong.

  19. Rest In Paradise little one.
    &
    Continued prayers for your mommy.

    Hopefully this guy finally gets proper punishment. And may he get it 10 fold!

    • It should have been him, he had no care for life or for himself. it should have been him. How a sweet precious girl had to loose her life because of some good for nothing piece of garbage.

  21. THE GUY IS AN ANIMAL!!! NOW HE’S GOING TO  TO THE JUDGE AND TELL HIM HE WASN’T ALL THERE!!!! BUT IF HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SHOT WITCH I AGREE WITH YOU, WE WOULD HAVE ALL THESE CRYING ACTIVIST OUT HERE DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR HICKS!!! JUST LIKE HICKS,, THERES MORE OF THEM OUT THERE!!!

    • This is such a travesty -reading his history, he should not have been on the street period.Reckless driving, Dui, hit and run, due for a hearing for violation of probation for vandalism; accused of trying to kick in his ex -finances front door after being served with a restraining order while carrying a shotgun and here’s the best part, He was free on a written promise to appear in court for his hearing.
      Heads should roll on this one folks starting with any politician in favor of early release for this type of scum.

      • THERE YOU GO!!! THERES LOTS OF THEM JUST LIKE “HICK’S” OUT THERE BUT WITH DIFFERENT NAMES!!!! I SHOULDNT BE SAYING THIS BUT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HICKS WHO SHOULD HAVE DIED THAT DAY INSTEAD OF AN INNOCENT CHILD!!! IT WOULD HAVE SAVED THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN TAX PAYERS MONEY!! NOW ALL TAX PAYERS HAVE TO PAY FOR HIS JAIL TIME AN FOOD!! HOPE YOU GET WAS COMING TO YOU IN JAIL ! TRY NOT TO DROP THE SOAP BAR!!!!

        • Another senseless murder. My neighbor went door to door collecting donations. I’m glad I was a able to help. My heart goes out to the family.

  22. From the picture in the other article it looks like they had him (Hicks)down on the ground…to bad they didn’t shoot him when they had the chance.

    Madison, gone to soon, my heart and prayers are with you and your family.

    • I ment to push like .. me and my kids just got of the bus an made it a cross the street if it would of been a Sec later that would of been me and my kids myself heart hose out that family so sad all this did not have to happen if the cops did there job rite an stop his ass in palmdale that Bby girl would still b with her family

      • He said the brief pursuit began when deputies attempted to stop the man after they spotted him driving recklessly and running a red light on Sierra Highway and Avenue J!!!!
        Where did it say it started in Palmdale?? You wanna blame someone? Marvin Hicks is your man!!!

      • Palmdale? Where did you get that information? Maybe because he was traveling on Sierra Hwy before making that left onto Ave. I? Either way, the sheriffs and the helicopter were on top of their job as soon as calls started pouring in. I often think the cops here are out of line, by all means, I am not the one to say they’re always righteous. However, in this case, the ONLY person that MURDERED someone is Hicks! He is being charged with MURDER and I believe he will be convicted of just that. It’s called the felony murder rule..which becomes first degree. If he doesn’t get that, I have faith that the people of our community will at the very least find him guilty of second degree. This wasn’t manslaughter, considering his past record. He KNEW what he was doing BEFORE he chose to get high, liquored up, or what have you and step into that vehicle. My condolences to the family.. and I know the community stands behind all of you. This tragedy was uncalled for on all levels. As me and my daughter stood there watching this creep on the ground handcuffed y sheriff’s, I could only hope for his own demise..though he survived and had basically no injury, I have faith in the justice system and the prison system to take care of this jerk.

        • @Sarah… I am so sorry you and your daughter experienced this unfortunate accident that took a life of a young little girl. However, I hope you realize that preventative measures could have saved her within the District Attorneys office who said he had an addiction and could have “plea bargained” to treatment, but elected not to in order to get a conviction.

          It’s all about the people… your voice… your choice… and your vote that counts!!!