Crime & Safety

Trial Date Set for IB Father Accused of Abandoning Son After Car Accident

An Aug. 11 trial date has been set for Angelo Fabiani, who is accused of abandoning his 4-year-old son following a freeway crash, leaving the child bleeding on the roadside with injuries that would prove fatal. 

Fabiani, 40, also known as Angelo Fabiani Arroyo, is charged with child endangerment and hit-and-and-run with serious injury or death. He faces up to 7 years in prison if convicted.

Fabiani was on probation for a drunken driving conviction at the time of the June 2 crash on Interstate 5 near Rosecrans Street. His son, Valentino Fabiani Arroyo, was declared brain-dead at Rady Children's Hospital eight days later.

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The boy was strapped in a child-safety seat in a 2004 Nissan Titan that veered off southbound Interstate 5 about 8 p.m. The truck, which was hauling a small water-craft trailer, careened down an ice plant-covered embankment, slammed into a palm tree, toppled onto its passenger side and came to rest perched atop a concrete retaining wall above Jefferson Street.

The defendant got out of the vehicle and tried in vain to pull out the child, according to witnesses. He then re-entered the damaged pickup and freed the youngster, but in doing so caused the child to fall about eight feet onto a concrete sidewalk below, according to prosecutors.

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The defendant eluded capture for two days before being arrested in his hometown of Imperial Beach.

—City News Service contributed to this report.


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