Desert Hot Springs family remembers 58-year-old Paul Nava, killed in hit-and-run crash

A local family is remembering Desert Hot Springs resident Paul Nava, 58, who was killed in a hit-and-run crash last week.

It happened just after 8 p.m. last Wednesday. Police say Nava was crossing the street, on Palm Drive and Cahuilla Avenue, when he was stuck by car.

Police say the car immediately fled, and Nava died of his injuries at the scene. The search for the driver continues.

“I just couldn't believe that someone would just hit him and drive off. I didn't want to believe that it was him,” said Nava's wife Sherri Miller.

She told News Channel 3's Samantha Lomibao she last saw her husband the morning before he died. “I couldn't believe that someone would actually do that to him, or any person for that matter. Nobody deserves that,” Miller said.

She's heartbroken that after 33 years of marriage, the love of her life was taken so soon. "He was just caring and gentle. He had a rough outside, but he was just a gentle giant he was a teddy bear inside.”

Nava’s son, Nathaniel Nava Miller, said he had always looked up to his father. “He was my superhero. Here's great everything I could imagine the dad he was it," Nava Miller explained, “He's just always there for me. No matter what I say I'm going to make him proud.”

Nava was father to 3, grandfather to 7 and friend to many. “He wanted to keep going and he wanted to make his family proud too, even though he had already in his lifetime. But he just wanted to make his grandchildren proud and leave you know, that kind of morals and legacy for them to just keep going and not to give up.”

They described him as a hard worker who loved to help. “He would help anybody, no matter what his situation was, he would always do what he could to help anybody else,” Nava Miller said.

Two memorials in his honor can be seen on both sides of the road, that he was crossing on that fateful night. “Just about every day. I come up and I know he's not here but I come up just to let him know that I'm here," Miller added, “We don't even know who started the memorials but there's one on each side of the street... So it just shows how much he was loved and cared for and thought about out that everybody knew him, everybody thought about him.”

Miller believes the street can be dangerous, with its low lighting and cars speeding. She urges people pay extra attention when driving at night. “More lighting and more posted speed limits or crosswalks, marked crosswalks, even if that would help. But there's got to be something that can be done as a city that we can get safety.”

She hopes that the driver responsible comes forward. “How they can just go on knowing that they took someone's life, and they don't get to see their family anymore or see their grandchildren grow up and participate in lives anymore.”

Authorities say the car could be a sport utility vehicle. If you have any information about this incident, contact Desert Hot Springs police.

If you’d like to help support the family with funeral expenses, click here for the GoFundMe.