A witness has described the horrific moment when she failed to resuscitate a baby who ended up at her feet at a gas station after a female driver ran a red light at at least 80 mph, collided with five cars and killed six people – including a child and a pregnant woman.
A woman has claimed that the speeding 40-year-old driver, who was her boyfriend, was “drunk” and “fight with her boyfriend” before getting into a traffic jam in Windsor Hills, Los Angeles.
Vehicles were sent screaming across the street, bursting into flames, before finally coming to a stop in a mangled wreckage just yards away from rows of highly flammable pumps.
The heartbreaking pile, between South La Brea Avenue and Slauson Avenue, killed the pregnant woman, her unborn child and the one-year-old.
Meanwhile, seven people are fighting for their lives with horrific injuries after the devastating blow at 1:40 pm. The driver is one of the seriously injured in the hospital.
Witness Veronica Esquival said she was pumping gas when debris suddenly began flying through the air during the horrific impact — caused by the female driver, who was reportedly alone in the car.
This is the horrifying moment the Los Angeles driver steered the line of cars to another gas station across the road before stopping just before the pumps
A child car seat was thrown from a vehicle at the scene of the accident. A baby was confirmed to have died in the horrific ordeal
Graphic shows the direction the SUV was traveling along South La Brea Avenue when it ran a red light and caused the horrific crash
Skid marks can be seen on the ground at the intersection as investigators tried to figure out what had happened on Thursday night
Witness Veronica Esquival said the baby landed at her feet after the fatal blow. She was pumping gas at the station when the tragedy happened
She said a baby tragically ended up on the ground in the middle of the gas station before panicked workers tried to resuscitate the child.
She said, ‘I was about to pump gas and all of a sudden I heard all the sounds of all the collisions, and then the fire explosion and I saw things, metal and things flying in the sky. So I just covered up behind the pump.
“All of a sudden a baby literally flew from the middle of the intersection to the middle of the gas station and landed right in front of me on the ground.
“One of the workers came and saw me with the baby and took the baby out of my hands. Someone tried to resuscitate the baby, but the baby was gone.’
A woman, who claims to be a friend of the Mercedes driver, said she thought she had been drinking after arguing with her boyfriend at a nearby house before the fatal crash.
She said KTLA: ‘She was drinking and she didn’t know it was a red light because she shot right through.’
Another heartbroken witness Alphonso Word, who was only a few cars away from the intersection when the tragedy struck, said the crash sounded “like a bomb.”
He said the child was “thrown off the street,” as was the pregnant mother, who “landed aside.”
Devastating footage shows vehicles burned out after firefighters extinguished the massive flames caused by the crash – after an inferno made it seem as if ‘the entire intersection was on fire’.
The Mercedes races past a gas station, then crashes into the side of a traffic jam, sparking a flaming inferno in the Windsor Hills neighborhood
Fire officials are seen on Thursday with a burned-out car after the accident
The Mercedes coupe races past the gas station to the intersection before the sickening crash on Wednesday
Another witness, Alphonso Word, said the crash sounded “like a bomb.”
Devastating footage shows vehicles burned out after firefighters extinguished the massive flames caused by the crash – after an inferno made it seem as if ‘the entire intersection was on fire’.
Taken from a gas station overlooking the scene, the shocking footage begins as the Mercedes coupe races past the pumps at breakneck speed.
The doomed vehicle fails to break as it pushes on traffic flowing in both directions across the packed intersection.
He slams into the first car, which immediately erupts into a sickening fireball before plowing through several others spinning from the massive impact. The crash sends them all to another gas station across the road from the intersection before finally coming to a stop in a crumpled mess.
The pile-up came to a halt just before the second gas station over the road, which is considered an architectural icon.
A woman claimed the driver was her boyfriend and that she had been drinking after fighting with her boyfriend prior to the fatal crash
The heartbreaking pile, between South La Brea Avenue and Slauson Avenue, killed the pregnant woman, her unborn child and the one-year-old
The doomed vehicle doesn’t break as it pushes on the traffic flowing in both directions across the packed intersection
Social media images show the battered vehicles left without wheels and roofs after the brutal impact
Images show mangled, burnt-out vehicles splashing across the street in what California Highway Patrol described as “like a war zone.”
Eight of the nine injured were sent to area hospitals and six of the nine are children and teenagers. The driver of the Mercedes is believed to be one of the people who were taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Debra Jackson, who was filling her car with gas, told CBSLA: “Suddenly I heard a big explosion and flames spread all over my car. I thought my car was on fire.’
California Highway Patrol spokesman Franco Pepi said “at least six or seven” vehicles were involved — and three caught fire. He also confirmed that the driver was a 40-year-old woman.
He added: ‘Just unknown reasons for the high speed at the moment… Everyone needs to drive with more respect because a lot of collisions happen, and this just happens to be at the top of the list of how bad they can get.’
Taken from a gas station overlooking the scene, the shocking footage begins as the Mercedes coupe races past the pumps at breakneck speed.
Meanwhile, seven people are fighting for their lives with horrific injuries after the devastating impact at 1:40 p.m.