Daniel Ramos Cruz was 60 years old when he died on Sunday, September 11, 2011, in Pomona, a city in the eastern part of Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 347 E. Pearl St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Pomona Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as a Latino man and gave a short account of what happened. Ed Winter, a spokesman for the coroner's office, said Cruz "was standing on a sidewalk at 4:41 p.m. when he was pushed by a person and hit his head on the concrete." He was taken to a hospital, where he remained for two days until he died on September 11. According to coroner's records, he died from blunt-force trauma to the head. Winter had no other information about the death. The Times did not report who pushed him, why, or whether that person was ever identified.
The account shows how little it can take to cause a fatal injury. A single push on a sidewalk, followed by a fall onto concrete, was enough to end the life of a 60-year-old man. The timing, in the late afternoon, suggests the street may have been busy with people and traffic, and that someone besides the person who pushed him may have seen what happened. That is an inference only; the record does not say whether there were witnesses.
His name later appeared on a community-compiled list of Pomona homicides shared online, which recorded his age, the date, the Pearl Street address and the cause of death. Beyond that list, nothing about Daniel Ramos Cruz has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story. Daniel Cruz is a very common name, and searches mostly turn up other men, including a theater choreographer and men whose obituaries were published in other states. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Pomona is one of the oldest and largest cities in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, home to Cal Poly Pomona and to the Fairplex, where the Los Angeles County Fair is held. It has its own police department, which is why Pomona detectives, rather than the Sheriff's Department, took the case. People who live, work or pass through a city block in the late afternoon often notice who comes and goes, and some of them may remember a man falling to the sidewalk on Pearl Street.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Daniel Ramos Cruz could be found in news archives or public records. More than 14 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near East Pearl Street in Pomona on the afternoon of Friday, September 9, 2011, or who knew Daniel Cruz and heard talk of what happened to him, may hold information that could help detectives. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can contact the Pomona Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
