A 35-year-old Bakersfield man was struck and killed while crossing Warner Avenue near Yale Street in Santa Ana before dawn on August 16, dying at a hospital after paramedics pulled him from the roadway with severe injuries. The driver who hit him stayed at the scene, cooperated with investigators, and did not appear impaired, police said.
According to a statement from the Santa Ana Police Department, officers and Orange County Fire Authority crews responded around 4:53 a.m. after receiving multiple calls about a pedestrian struck by a vehicle at the intersection of Warner Avenue and Yale Street. Arriving units found the pedestrian, later identified as Esteban Ramon Renterian, lying in the roadway with significant injuries. OCFA transported Renterian to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased despite lifesaving efforts, per the department's account.
Police said Renterian was crossing southbound on Warner Avenue outside of a marked crosswalk when he was struck by a vehicle traveling eastbound. The Santa Ana Police Department's Collision Investigation Unit is handling the investigation, and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Corporal M. Pardo at (714) 245-8208 or the department's Traffic Division.
A Corridor With a Troubled History
This is not the first fatal crash at this exact intersection. A 58-year-old male pedestrian was struck and killed at Warner Avenue and Yale Street on September 26, 2024, according to New Santa Ana. That earlier collision, like this one, occurred near the Yale Navigation Center, the 425-bed emergency shelter that Orange County has operated at 2229 S. Yale St. since 2021 as the area's primary year-round homeless service center, offering 24-hour shelter and supportive services for adults.
The stretch of Warner Avenue has seen other recent traffic deaths as well. Just weeks earlier, on June 19, a 60-year-old bicyclist was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver a few blocks away at Warner Avenue and Standard Avenue, a case Hoodline covered at the time. And on August 7, a 38-year-old Santa Ana man died after being struck crossing Harbor Boulevard outside a marked crosswalk in an incident that, like this one, involved a driver who stayed and cooperated with police.
Legal Crossing Rules and a Persistent Safety Problem
Under California's Freedom to Walk Act, which took effect January 1, 2023, pedestrians are legally permitted to cross roadways outside marked crosswalks without being stopped by police, unless a reasonably careful person would recognize an immediate danger of collision, according to legislative records filed with LegiScan. The law decriminalized jaywalking but did not remove pedestrians' duty to exercise due care when crossing.
Santa Ana has struggled with pedestrian safety on a broader scale. The city ranked fifth worst among 15 California cities with populations over 250,000 for total pedestrian injury and fatality collisions, based on 2023 California Office of Traffic Safety crash ranking data cited by the city's own Vision Zero program. Santa Ana adopted its Vision Zero Plan in late 2023 after city collision data showed that major arterial streets, like Warner Avenue, account for 60 percent of all pedestrian crashes citywide.
Part of the danger stems from how many residents depend on walking and public transit. Under the Safe Mobility Santa Ana Plan, 55 percent of Santa Ana households lack access to a personal vehicle, compared with 37 percent countywide across Orange County, a disparity that increases pedestrian exposure to traffic on wide, high-speed arterials. Regionally, Orange County recorded 883 pedestrians injured or killed in traffic crashes in 2022, according to data compiled by the Hicks Law Firm.
Infrastructure Investment Underway
City leaders have moved to address the corridor's risks with major construction spending. In May, the Santa Ana City Council approved a $21 million contract with Los Angeles Engineering, Inc. for street infrastructure improvements along Warner Avenue between Oak Street and Grand Avenue, aimed at roadway reconstruction and multimodal enhancements. Whether those upgrades will extend to the Yale Street intersection where two people have now died was not addressed in available city records.
The Collision Investigation Unit's inquiry into Renterian's death remains open. Anyone with information is urged to call Detective Corporal M. Pardo at (714) 245-8208 or reach the Santa Ana Police Department's Traffic Division at (714) 245-8200.
