MOTORIST PLEADS NOT GUILTY.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

SYLMAR - A 17-year-old motorist whose car fatally struck a school crossing guard in front of Lankershim Elementary School on Nov. 21 pleaded not guilty Thursday to a vehicular manslaughter charge.

The death shook the neighborhood and pressured city officials to install a crossing light at the North Hollywood corner of Magnolia Boulevard and Bakman Avenue after years of requests by area residents.

Police say William Hooper of Tujunga had just helped a child cross the street at 7:20 a.m. when the teen's blue Dodge Colt station wagon, headed eastbound on Magnolia, suddenly jumped the curb and struck the guard.

The motorist, whose identity has not been released because he is a minor, has been charged with felony vehicular manslaughter and two infractions of unsafe speed and unlawful turning movement, according to Deputy District Attorney Melissa Reinhold.

``Charges were filed based on looking at all the evidence and the investigation that was conducted,'' she said.

A preliminary plea report date was set for March 30 at Sylmar Juvenile Court.

The motorist did not flee the scene of the crime, police said, and he appeared to be traumatized by the incident, telling officers that he was temporarily blinded by the sun when his car struck the guard.

``The kid was really shaken up,'' said Detective Ralph Huerta of Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Traffic Division.

Police say there were about a dozen eye witnesses to the incident, and that while the motorist was sober, he was also driving at speeds in excess of the 25 mph limit.

Some witnesses interviewed immediately after the incident said the motorist was driving as fast as 50 mph.

A retired Burbank municipal employee, Hooper had worked for Los Angeles for 1 1/2 years as an alternate crossing guard making about $9 an hour.