A 3-month-old was killed and five other people were injured in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 215 in Riverside on Sunday evening, authorities said.
The baby, identified as Leon Edgington Morales, of Perris, was injured at 7:30 p.m. on the northbound 215, south of Eucalyptus Avenue, and pronounced dead at 8:10 p.m., according to the Riverside County sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau.
The California Highway Patrol responded to the vehicle pileup at 7:34 p.m. Sunday shortly after a Honda Civic came to a stop in traffic, a Nissan slammed into the Honda, and a Toyota Rav4 slammed into the Nissan, a department spokesperson told news-gathering organization OnScene.TV.
The Nissan was carrying a man, woman, a female toddler and the 3-month-old. The male driver’s injuries were described as major, while the woman’s and toddler’s injuries were described as minor to moderate.
Video captured by OnScene showed a firefighter holding the toddler and crews extracting the two adults from the front of the car and loading them into an ambulance. The back half of the Nissan appeared severely crushed from the force of the Toyota Rav4 that slammed into it.
The driver of the Toyota sustained moderate injuries, and an elderly passenger in the Honda also had complaints of pain, the spokesperson said.
A woman identified as Ciana C told OnScene she pulled over in her car and attempted to provide assistance when she saw the immediate aftermath of the crash. She said she and other bystanders tried to open the door of the damaged Nissan to help free the occupants but were unable to do so.
“We urgently tried to get to the children in the back, and we were not successful,” she said, “But I tried keeping the parents calm and telling them that I was there, trying to get any information that I could.”
Once firefighters arrived and extracted the infant, they began performing CPR, but it looked like the baby was turning blue, she said. She said the toddler was moving and looked coherent. She held onto a dog that was also in the family’s car.
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