A 7-year-old boy survived a fatal crash that killed his mother and stayed by her side for 12 hours before he was found walking alone on a mountain road in Fresno County, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The tragic story unfolded Sunday before 9 a.m. when someone called the CHP about an “overdue party” who had failed to arrive home after midnight. The caller identified the person as a 30-year-old woman driving a Subaru Crosstrek, according to CHP Officer Michael Salas.
Shortly before noon, he said, someone called police dispatchers to report that they had found a 7-year-old boy walking on the right shoulder of the westbound lanes of State Route 168, east of Qualls Prather Road in the community of Auberry.
CHP officers along with Fresno County sheriff’s deputies responded to the location and discovered that the boy was the lone survivor of a crash that had occurred about half a mile from where he was located. Authorities believe that the Subaru had left the roadway and overturned several times down an embankment. They said the boy’s mother was found outside the vehicle.
CHP Officer John Marsh told ABC 30, which was the first to report the story, that the Subaru had fallen nearly 200 feet off an embankment.
“It was basically sitting in a grove of trees, covered and not visible from the highway,” he said.
Salas said neither the driver nor the child were wearing seat belts during the crash.
“It remains unclear whether the driver was ejected from the vehicle or exited it after the crash occurred,” he said.
Salas said the boy stayed by his mother’s lifeless body and tried to stay warm for the night.
CHP investigators said that the cause of the crash remains under investigation and that toxicology results will determine whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the fatal crash.
The boy, who suffered moderate to major injuries, was transported to Valley Children’s Hospital, where he was reunited with his father.
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