Mother’s Day accident claims lives of 5 in SoCal
Mother’s Day turned extremely tragic in the Southern California desert town of Hesperia when a van slammed into a car that was stopped at a stop sign, killing all five passengers inside, including three children.
The horrible accident occurred just before 7 a.m. Sunday when a full-size van traveling eastbound on Main Street crossed into the westbound lanes and crashed into the stopped Honda Accord.
According to reports, the driver of the van, who was alone in the car, proceeded straight at a bend in the road which caused the van to cross into the opposite lanes. The van reportedly went over a curb before essentially running over the Accord and landing on top of it.
Rescue workers rushed a man and a boy that were extracted from the Accord to a hospital where they were pronounced dead. A woman and a girl were reportedly pronounced dead at the accident scene.
Because the car was so badly mangled from the horrific accident, emergency workers didn’t find the body of a third child in the vehicle until several hours later.
While we depend on automobiles daily to get us where we need to go, tragedies like this one show just how dangerous and life-shattering motor vehicle accidents can be.
A family on their way to celebrate Mother’s Day can be sitting at a stop sign peacefully one minute and within the blink of an eye can be pulverized by another vehicle.
Although we don’t know what caused the van to run off course, one can only suspect that the driver either fell asleep behind the wheel or experienced some type of serious medical event.
According to reports, the driver of the van was treated for minor injuries at the scene and was released. Undoubtedly, though, the driver could still face criminal and civil liability for causing the accident depending on the results of an investigation.
Source: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, “5 dead after van smashes into car in Hesperia,” Greg Cappis, May 11, 2014