Family members are demanding answers and accountability after their loved one was fatally hit by a Los Angeles Police Department vehicle in the San Fernando Valley on Halloween night.
"It hurts to the core. She was my youngest girl," said Denis Cataldo. "She was definitely my baby girl, and I loved her with all my heart and soul."
Her 32-year-old daughter, Kristine Poulos, was killed over the weekend in Valley Glen, when an LAPD officer was en route to reports of a fight at a large party in the area.
Poulos was hit at around 10:30 p.m. on Woodman Avenue, near Bessemer Street and Erwin Street, nearly a mile from the party. She was pronounced dead at the scene by Los Angeles firefighters. It's still unclear if she was in the street or a crosswalk when she was struck.
Her family gathered in Palmdale days after the crash to remember the loving mother of two young girls.
"I'm waiting to wake up and this be a nightmare," said Poulos' sister, Monique Lopez. "I was supposed to go before her. She's my little sister. She was only 32 years old. She didn't deserve to die."
Lopez said she's now heartbroken for her nieces, who are still young and need their mother. As the family struggles to come to terms with their loss, they're hopeful that the crash is a wake-up call for the LAPD.
"She didn't deserve to die like that," Lopez said.
"I live just down the street from there, and I see them all the time going 100 miles an hour, not even with lights on, and it just seems like they should be more careful," Cataldo said.
Family members are hopeful that Poulos isn't remembered for the way she died, but rather the way she lived, by embracing life and love to the fullest.
"We're just asking, you know, for a proper burial for her, or even a cremation," Lopez said. "Her daughters have a GoFundMe that they're trying to raise to bury their mom."
The fundraiser can be found by searching for the keywords: "Peaceful Burial for Kristine Poulos."
