Man Pleads Not Guilty in Boy’s Hit-and-Run Death

A Los Angeles man pleaded not guilty Thursday to felony manslaughter and drunk-driving charges for allegedly driving his car into a woman and six children on a sidewalk, killing a 7-year-old boy, authorities said.

Ricardo Martinez, 21, who also uses the name Jorge Louis Martinez, was charged with one count each of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run, drunk driving and driving with a blood-alcohol content of .08 or more. Bail was set at $20,000, court officials said. Pedro Hernandez, 7, was killed and his mother, Petra Hernandez, 33, and five other children were hurt when they were struck by a car while walking along East 65th Street in the Florence area Tuesday.

On Thursday, numerous callers sought to donate money to the Hernandez family after reading a published report that the boy’s father told a nun that he feared Pedro would be cremated because they were too poor to pay for a funeral. Officials at Miramonte Elementary School, where Pedro was a second-grader, decided Thursday to establish a fund for the Hernandez family.