The Jurupa Valley Sheriff’s Station Traffic Collision Reconstruction Team responded to the location and assumed the investigation. It remains unknown if alcohol and/or drugs were a factor in the collision.

Both directions of Van Buren Boulevard between 56th Street and Jurupa Road were closed for the duration of the investigation. The identity of the deceased will not be released pending further investigation and the notification to the next of kin.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call Deputy Petersen at the Jurupa Valley Sheriff’s Station at 951-955-2600 or the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at 951-776-1099.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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NORTH HIGHLANDS, Calif. (AP) — Four people, including two children, killed in Northern California after a wrong-way driver crashed head-on into their vehicle on Interstate 80 were members of a family headed to the Grand Canyon on vacation, their relatives said.

Brittney and Antonio Montano, both 29, their 9-year-old daughter, Marianna, and 5-year-old son, Antonio Jr., were killed in the crash Saturday in Nevada County. Their 4-year-old son, Julian, who was strapped to a car seat, survived.

The family from North Highlands in Sacramento County were headed to Utah and Arizona on vacation, their family said on a website set up to raise funds for their burials.

A witness called 911 near 5 a.m. to report a wrong-way driver. The crash involving three vehicles happened minutes later near Eagle Lakes Road in Nevada County, the California Highway Patrol said.

The crash injured two other people, including the wrong-way driver, who remains in the hospital. The driver of the third vehicle had moderate injuries, the CHP said.

CHP investigators have not identified the wrong-way driver but said he is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol, KCRA-TV reported.

The surviving boy was airlifted to a hospital in Reno, Nevada. Brittney’s brother, Anthony Gonzalez, and his wife said they have been by the child’s side since the crash.

“It was the worst day of my life,” Gonzalez told KTXL-TV Monday, crying.

Gonzalez’s wife, Michelle Gonzalez, said the boy has extensive injuries, including a broken leg that required surgery, fractures in his foot and ribs but that he is expected to fully recover. The couple said they plan to adopt their nephew.

“We’re going to take care of Julian the best that we can,” Michelle Gonzalez told the television station amid tears.

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The crash was reported at 6:45 a.m. on Warren Road, a heavily traveled highway with one lane in each direction separated by a double yellow line.

A white Chevrolet Silverado was headed north on Warren south of Esplanade Avenue when it crossed the line, said Officer Matt Napier, a CHP spokesman. The driver of the semi swerved, but the left front of the pickup struck the left front of the semi, Napier said.

Both vehicles were traveling at about the posted 55 mph speed limit, Napier said.

Brian Rokos | Contributed

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A crash that killed 10 people — including nine children — on a rain-slicked Alabama interstate happened after a tractor-trailer truck slammed into vehicles that had slowed down because of minor crashes, according to a preliminary report released Tuesday.

The National Highway Safety Board’s initial findings on the fiery June 19 crash that involved 12 vehicles present a chronology of events but don’t assign a cause or blame as the agency continues to investigate.

Eight of the victims were in a van from a youth home for abused or neglected children. The report said the van was hit by two commercial trucks. A Tennessee man and his baby in another vehicle were killed.

The report says a commercial truck hauling an empty trailer used for moving cars came upon a queue of traffic on Interstate 65 that had slowed and stopped because of earlier minor crashes. The commercial truck, operated by Hansen & Adkins, hit a 2020 Ford Explorer SUV before veering to the left and striking the youth home van.

The SUV overturned and struck several other vehicles in the line of stopped vehicles.

A tractor-trailer truck operated by Asmat Express then came upon the stopped vehicles, veered left, struck and mounted the bridge rail and then struck the van. The van and the truck came to rest in the median.

The multiple collisions caused a fire that burned the trucks, the van and three other vehicles, the report says.

Neither Hansen & Adkins, based in Los Alamitos, California; or Asmat Express, located in Clarkston, Georgia, responded to phone messages and emails seeking comment.

The report notes that the National Transportation Safety Board is still working on determining the probable cause of the crash “with the intent of issuing safety recommendations to prevent similar crashes.”

Four girls from the Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch, a home for abused and neglected children, were killed in the crash. The only survivor in the van was the home’s director, Candice Gulley, who was driving. Two of Gulley’s children and two of her nephews also died in the crash.

Gulley had taken the group to the Alabama coast for an annual trip sponsored by the girls ranch.

The pileup was the most devastating blow from a tropical depression that also claimed three other lives and destroyed dozens of homes in Alabama as it unleashed flash floods and spurred tornadoes.

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On June 14, 2021, at 7:50 PM, deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff Department, Moreno Valley Station, responded to a report a major injury traffic collision on Lasselle Street and John F. Kennedy Drive. Deputies and Fire/Rescue personnel arrived within minutes and started rescue efforts on the vehicle occupants. Preliminary investigation indicates a white Mercedes SUV was traveling southbound on Lasselle Street at John F. Kennedy Drive. A red Toyota sedan was traveling northbound on Lasselle Street. For an unknown reason, the Mercedes crossed into opposing traffic and struck the Toyota. The driver of the Toyota was pronounced deceased at the scene by paramedics. The other vehicle occupants were transported to local hospitals with various injuries.

The Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station Traffic Collision Reconstruction Team responded to the location and assumed the investigation. The portion of Lasselle Street will be closed to allow for the scene investigation. The investigation is continuing and deputies are still trying to determine if alcohol and/or drugs was a factor in this collision.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call Deputy Ralph Lopez of the Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station at 951-486-6700, or the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at 951-776-1099.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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SAN DIEGO (AP) — The three people killed when a driver plowed through a homeless camp on a sidewalk in downtown San Diego were all men — ages 40, 61 and 65 — who died of “multiple blunt force injuries,” according to a report from the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office released Tuesday.

Officials gave no other details nor identified the men by name.

Authorities were still trying to find their families, which can take time because of the men’s transient lives, San Diego police Lt. Shawn Takeuchi said.

Six others were hurt, including five who were taken to a hospital. Takeuchi said he had no details on their conditions, though he noted two who were in critical condition had shown improvement late Monday.

The tragedy illustrates the inherent danger California’s homeless population faces living on the streets.

Police say the 71-year-old driver, Craig Voss, was impaired when he headed through a tunnel underneath a community college campus and drove his Volvo station wagon up on the sidewalk shortly after 9 a.m. Monday.

He faces three counts of vehicular manslaughter, five counts of causing great bodily harm and a felony DUI. It wasn’t immediately known if Voss had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

Voss, who was arrested at the scene, did a field sobriety test by a drug recognition expert, though police have not identified whether Voss was under the influence of alcohol or other substance.

The body metabolizes prescription drugs and illicit narcotics in the same way, Takeuchi said. Police also ask about medical conditions as part of their routine investigation, and more details are expected to come out in court, he said.

Authorities had received a call before the crash that a man in a Volvo station wagon appeared to be driving while impaired, police said.

San Diego homeless advocate Michael McConnell said Monday’s crash was the latest one to occur. Last month, two homeless men sleeping under bushes in Escondido, north of San Diego, were run over and killed when an SUV veered onto a sidewalk.

“This is just the latest tragedy within a horrible crisis called homelessness,” he said.

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SAN DIEGO (AP) — A driver lost control and veered onto a sidewalk Monday dotted with homeless tents in downtown San Diego, killing three people and injuring six others, police said.

The driver — whom authorities identified only as a 71-year-old man — was heading through a tunnel underneath a community college campus when he drove his Volvo station wagon up on the sidewalk shortly after 9 a.m., said San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit. The man was arrested on suspicion of driving while impaired.

“For whatever reason, (the driver) veered to the right, went up on the sidewalk, struck multiple pedestrians there and then came back on to the roadway,” Nisleit said. He offered “my deepest condolences,” to the families of those who died.

Three people died at the scene. Five of the six others who were injured were taken to hospitals, including two who were in critical condition, authorities said.

On a typical weekday morning it is a busy area with students walking by, but classes have been online during the coronavirus pandemic. There also are a number of homeless tents lining the sidewalks in the area, including the sidewalk in the tunnel.

The deadly crash highlights the inherent risks to the homeless population in California, where the tents and tarps of homeless people line not only downtown sidewalks but are near ramps where cars accelerate as they enter freeways.

More than 150,000 people are homeless statewide. The number has increased during the coronavirus pandemic that has upended the economy.

Nisleit said homeless people may have moved into the tunnel to get out of rain just before the car plowed through.

“I don’t know if people were sleeping or people were sitting there,” he said.

Lisa Brotzman said she was peering out of a window in her tent just as the car swerved to the right shoulder, “spun out of control” and jumped onto the sidewalk in the tunnel where people were waiting out the rain.

“Someone was screaming, ‘Ahhh! Ahhhh!’” Brotzman told The San Diego Union-Tribune. “Two or three people were yelling and screaming. It was scary.”

The driver got out of his car and tried to help people before identifying himself to police, Nisleit said.

“He was cooperative, (and) did not try to run away,” the chief said, correcting earlier reports from police that he had tried to flee.

Ambulances, five fire engines, a helicopter and more than 60 first-responders responded to the scene near San Diego City College.

“Our crews found, obviously, a tragic incident under the bridge,” said San Diego Fire Department Chief Colin Stowell.

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HOLTVILLE, Calif. (AP) — The 13 people killed in one of the deadliest highway crashes involving migrants sneaking into the U.S. had entered California through a section of border fence with Mexico that was cut away, apparently by smugglers, immigration officials said Wednesday.

Surveillance video showed a Ford Expedition and Chevrolet Suburban drive through the opening early Tuesday, said Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol’s El Centro sector chief. The video has not been publicly released because it’s part of an ongoing investigation.

The Suburban carried 19 people, and it caught fire for unknown reasons on a nearby interstate after entering the U.S. All escaped the vehicle and were taken into custody by Border Patrol agents.

The Expedition crammed with 25 people continued on, and a tractor-trailer struck it a short time later. Ten of the 13 killed in that crash have been identified as Mexican citizens. The Border Patrol said its agents were not pursuing the vehicle before the wreck.

The opening in the fence was about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of the crash in the heart of California’s Imperial Valley, a major farming region now at the height of a harvest that provides much of the lettuce, onions, broccoli and winter vegetables to U.S. supermarkets.

It was made of steel bollards that were built before former President Donald Trump blanketed much of the border with taller barriers that go deeper into the ground. Photos show a panel of eight steel poles was lifted out and left on the ground in the desert next to an old tire and other debris.

“Human smugglers have proven time and again they have little regard for human life,” Bovino said. “Those who may be contemplating crossing the border illegally should pause to think of the dangers that all too often end in tragedy, tragedies our Border Patrol Agents and first responders are unfortunately very familiar with.”

The breach occurred in a busy area for illegal crossings near the Imperial Sand Dunes where migrants often climb over an aging barrier and wait for drivers to pick them up, hoping to avoid the scrutiny of Border Patrol agents at checkpoints on highways leading to Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix.

A pandemic-related measure that allows the Border Patrol to expel people without an opportunity to seek asylum potentially leads some to try to evade authorities instead of surrendering, sometimes with fatal consequences. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced expulsion powers nearly a year ago under Trump, and the Biden administration has signaled no plans to lift them anytime soon.

The cause of Tuesday’s collision wasn’t yet known, authorities said. The Expedition is built to hold eight people safely, but smugglers are known to pack people into vehicles in extremely unsafe conditions to maximize their profits.

Seats in the SUV had been removed except for those for the driver and front passenger, said Omar Watson, chief of the California Highway Patrol’s border division.

The crash happened in an area that became a major route for illegal border crossings in the late 1990s after heightened enforcement in San Diego pushed migrants to more remote areas.

Barely a mile from the crash, there is a cemetery with rows of unmarked bricks that is a burial ground for migrants who died crossing the border.

In 2001, John Hunter founded Water Station, a volunteer group that leaves jugs of water in giant plastic drums for dehydrated migrants.

“I was trying to figure out how to stop the deaths,” said Hunter, whose brother Duncan strongly advocated for border wall construction as a congressman.

Illegal crossings in the area fell sharply in the mid-2000s but the area has remained a draw for migrants and was a priority for wall construction under Trump. His administration’s first wall project was in Calexico.

When police arrived Tuesday at the crash site about 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of San Diego, some passengers were trying to crawl out of the crumpled SUV. Others were wandering around the nearby fields. The big rig’s front end was pushed into the SUV’s left side and two empty trailers were jackknifed behind it.

The men and women in the SUV ranged in age from 15 to 53, and those who survived had injuries that were minor to severe, including fractures and head trauma, officials said. The driver was from Mexicali, Mexico, just across the border, and was among those killed.

The 68-year-old driver of the big rig, who is from the nearby California community of El Centro, suffered moderate injuries.

The crash occurred around 6:15 a.m. under a clear, sunny sky at an intersection just outside the community of Holtville, about 11 miles (18 kilometers) north of the border. Authorities said the tractor-trailer was heading north on a highway when the SUV pulled in front of it from a road with a stop sign.

It’s not clear if the SUV ran the stop sign or had stopped before entering the highway. How fast both vehicles were going also wasn’t yet known.

A 1997 Ford Expedition can carry a maximum payload of 2,000 pounds. If it had 25 people inside, that would easily exceed the payload limit, taxing the brakes and making it tougher to steer the vehicle, said Frank Borris, former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation.

“You’re going to have extended stopping distances, delayed reactions to steering inputs and potential overreaction to any type of high-speed lane change,” said Borris, who now runs a safety consulting business.

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HOLTVILLE, Calif. (AP) — An SUV packed with 25 people pulled in front of an oncoming tractor-trailer on a two-lane highway cutting through farmland near the Mexican border early Tuesday, killing 13 and leaving bodies strewn across the roadway.

When police arrived some of the passengers were trying to crawl out of the crumpled 1997 Ford Expedition, the front end of the rig still pushing into its left side and two empty trailers jackknifed behind it. Other victims were wandering around the fields.

Twelve people were found dead when first responders reached the highway, which winds through fields in the agricultural southeastern corner of California about 125 miles (201 kilometers) east of San Diego. Another person died at a hospital, California Highway Patrol Chief Omar Watson said.

“It was a pretty chaotic scene,” Watson said, who also described it as “a very sad situation.”

The injuries ranged from minor to severe and included fractures and head trauma. Six people were being treated at El Centro Regional Medical Center. Four were flown to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, where one person is in critical condition and the others were stable, spokesman Todd Burke said.

The 22-year-old driver of the Ford Expedition was from Mexicali, Mexico, and was killed. The 69-year-old driver of the big rig, who is from nearby El Centro, was hospitalized with moderate injuries.

The crash occurred around 6:15 a.m. at an intersection just outside the agricultural community of Holtville, which dubs itself the world’s carrot capital.

Authorities said the tractor-trailer and its two empty containers were northbound on State Highway 115 when the SUV pulled in front of it from Norrish Road. It’s not clear if the SUV ran a stop sign or had stopped before entering the highway. It’s not yet known how fast the tractor-trailer was traveling.

The deceased ranged in age from 20 to to 55. Among the injured, the youngest is 16 years old.

The investigation will look into why so many people were crammed into the 1997 Ford Expedition, a vehicle built to hold only about eight people safely.

“Obviously, that vehicle is not meant for that many people,” Watson said. “It’s unfortunate that that many people were put into that vehicle because there’s not enough safety constraints to safely keep those people in that vehicle.”

The speed limit for tractor-trailers on the highway is 55 mph (88.5 kph), according to CHP Officer Jake Sanchez. The other road is also 55 mph for vehicles.

A 1997 Ford Expedition can carry a maximum payload of 2,000 pounds. If it had 25 people inside, that would exceed the payload limit — which would tax the brakes and make it tougher to steer, said Frank Borris, former head of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation.

“You’re going to have extended stopping distances, delayed reactions to steering inputs and potential over-reaction to any type of high-speed lane change,” said Borris, who now runs a safety consulting business.

SUVs of that age tended to be top-heavy even without carrying a lot of weight, Borris said.

“With all of that payload above the vehicle’s center of gravity, it’s going to make it even more unstable,” he said.

Officials were still working on identifying the dead and said they did not know if the SUV was carrying farm workers or migrants crossing into the country illegally. The Mexican consulate was assisting since so many people in the region live and work on both sides of the border.

The harvest of lettuce and other winter vegetable crops runs from November until March, when buses and SUV carrying farmworkers are often rumbling down the rural roads to the fields in the early morning hours.

The area has also seen smugglers carrying in migrants in trucks and vehicles. Hundreds of migrants who died after crossing the border are buried in unmarked graves in Holtville’s cemetery on the edge of town.

The crash occurred amid verdant farms that grow a wide variety of vegetables and alfalfa used for cattle feed. Hours after the accident, a crew of a few dozen worked the fields near the scene.

Macario Mora, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection in Yuma and El Centro, said the Border Patrol was helping other law enforcement with the crash. He said the immigration status of those in the SUV was unknown and being investigated.

“It was an unusual number of people in an SUV, but we don’t know who they were,” Mora said, adding that they could have been farmworkers.

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The preliminary investigation revealed a black Toyota sedan was traveling northbound on State Street when it struck a pedestrian lying down in the middle of the roadway. The driver of the vehicle immediately pulled over and waited at the scene. An AMR unit was in the area at the time of the collision and provided immediate medical attention. The identification of the decedent is being withheld pending the Coroner’s notification of the next of kin.

The San Jacinto Station Collision Reconstruction Team responded to the scene and assumed the investigation. During the investigation, State Street was closed at Ramona Expressway and Community College Drive until 11:15 a.m. This investigation is ongoing, anyone with information regarding this collision is encouraged to contact Deputy Cox at the San Jacinto Station, 951-654-2702.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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