By PAUL ANDERSON/City News Service Moments before his 14-year-old daughter was struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver, her father had one of those feelings of concern that parents get out of the blue. “I’d always want her to check in with me and to stay in touch, and it’s funny how we feel things, but right around 6:45 p.m.
I sent her a message that I felt worried, how are you? Are you OK? And I didn’t hear back until a couple of hours later,” Fillmore Smiley said. His daughter — Rosenda Elizabeth Smiley of Rialto — had been struck last Saturday, May 25 by a car driven by Joseph Alcazar, 30, of Fontana, who has since been charged with second-degree murder. The time of the collision at Balboa Boulevard and Palm Street was about 6:45 p.
m. As he was awaiting further news about what would happen next after being alerted to the collision, Smiley said his daughter’s Snapchat response popped up in his phone with cruel irony. “I thought for a moment she was alive,” Smiley said.
She was about to graduate eighth grade and go on to high school, her father said. Smiley, a clinical therapist who helps addicts, said he does not want his daughter to be just another statistic. So he and his family will gather at the scene of the crash Saturday, June 1, to tout reform for impaired drivers.
“So I work with addicts and alcoholics every day,” Smiley said. “Anyone can get one DUI and anyone can have an oops and they’ll never do it again, but when you get the seco.
