Head-On Crash During Joy Ride Kills 5, Hurts 2
Five people were killed and two injured, one critically, when a carload of teen-agers “out for a Christmas vacation joy ride†crossed over a double line and crashed into a car containing a couple and their small son near Apple Valley on Monday, authorities reported.
There was no immediate identification of the dead victims, all from the Apple Valley area.
A 5-year-old boy, Michael Sandoval, was in serious but stable condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center.
A man and woman believed to be the boy’s parents were killed.
A teen-age girl who was driving a 1988 Chevrolet was killed instantly, along with two other teen-agers, a male and a female, the California Highway Patrolsaid.
A male teen-ager was in critical condition at San Bernardino County Hospital.
Apple Valley Fire Capt. Gary Bush said “it appeared the teen-agers were just out celebrating on a Christmas vacation joy ride†when the Chevrolet drifted over and smashed into a Toyota. He said it took nearly two hours to extricate the victims from the wreckage.
“It was like a war zone,†Bush said of the scene.
The CHP said the accident occurred on a dip on Rock Springs Road in the dry Mojave River bed near Deep Creek Road, about 12 miles northeast of Cajon Pass.
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