Four adults and a 7-year-old boy were killed in an Ontario crash on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, officials said.
About 7:03 p.m. Thursday, a silver Toyota Yaris with four occupants going east on Interstate 10 drove at a high speed off the Vineyard Avenue off-ramp and T-boned a red Toyota sedan that was going north on Vineyard with four occupants, said CHP Officer Christina Wood.
The four occupants of the red sedan were pronounced dead on the scene. They were identified as Anthony Andrew Flores, 30, from Hemet; Monica Marie Flores, 37, from Arcadia; Matthew Joseph Pusateri, 29, from Mission Viejo; and Jeffrey Albert Willey, 29, from Huntington Beach.
The occupants of the Yaris were taken to hospitals. The young boy, 7-year-old Joel Michael Pineda of Van Nuys, was pronounced dead a short time later at San Antonio Regional Hospital and the three other occupants – two juveniles and one adult – had minor to moderate non-life-threatening injuries, Wood said.
The cause of the car crash appears to be a problem with the Yaris, the San Bernardino County Coroner’s Office said in a news release.
The vehicle “began to accelerate uncontrollably,” as it went east on I-10, a coroner’s release said. “Unable to stop or slow the car, the driver drove onto the Vineyard Avenue off-ramp.”
The investigation is ongoing, but no alcohol or drug use was apparent early in the investigation, Wood said.
Witness Orlando Erives told KCBS TV that he saw the crash and the aftermath.
“I saw the firefighters trying to cut the car so that they could get the people out. One was ejected from the car. I was able to see them on the floor. After that I just saw them putting tarps on each of the bodies,” Erives said.
New Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/occupants-698213-year-crash.html
