CA - Five Salazar kids, ages 1-8, killed in police pursuit crash, 8 Aug 2009

[panthera]

Dinuba is a rural agricultural area in the Central Valley.

Reports are that the car was carjacked - i.e. taken from the owner by force or threat of violence. You don't just let people capable of doing that go about their merry way.

I know the criminals would prefer that the police abandon a chance to catch them. What I don't understand is why anyone else would feel that way. Only large cities have helicopters, after all, and even then helicopters can't be everywhere.

As far as cars, I had (sold in June because there's no way to get a family of 4 in it) a car that could just about get to 150 MPH, and I've never once run from the police. When they nail me I pull over. Simple enough.

Thanks for clarifying about the area ~ that's the impression I got from the video on Fox News yesterday. It looked like at least one of the vehicles ended up in a citrus orchard. They also showed the intersection and there only seemed to be a house on one side of it. I know where I am LE doesn't use helicopters out in the country either. None of the reports I've heard have said just how fast the Dodge Neon was travelling just that it had taken off after LE tried to stop it for a traffic infraction, and "blew through" a stop sign. I haven't heard either how close LE was behind the Neon. Just curious. :waitasec: MOO

 

[panthera]

"None of the Salazar kids were in seat belts or car seats when the crash happened. But family members said except for Saturday, they usually travelled in the family van, which is equipped with car seats."

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=6957385

If only they'd gotten in the van instead. :cry:

 

[southcitymom]

"None of the Salazar kids were in seat belts or car seats when the crash happened. But family members said except for Saturday, they usually travelled in the family van, which is equipped with car seats."

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=6957385

If only they'd gotten in the van instead. :cry:

Very sad. In more rural areas, it really is not uncommon for kids, dogs and even grown men to ride in the back of a pick-up truck. I had a few rides like that as a child. I know it's not the safest thing in the world, but it's not unusual "in the country."

 

[panthera]

Very sad. In more rural areas, it really is not uncommon for kids, dogs and even grown men to ride in the back of a pick-up truck. I had a few rides like that as a child. I know it's not the safest thing in the world, but it's not unusual "in the country."

Oh I know! But laws are laws nowdays, and sadly the parents will have to live with the loss of their children. I wouldn't want to be in their place now. :cry:

 

[PrayersForMaura]

This is all very sad. I do agree, though, that it's the criminals' (hijackers) faults.
One bad incident triggered another.
Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Prayers for the parents. They lost all five of their children and will never be able to hug them or kiss them ever again, see them grow up, get married, get old ... it's a real tragedy

 

[southcitymom]

Oh I know! But laws are laws nowdays, and sadly the parents will have to live with the loss of their children. I wouldn't want to be in their place now. :cry:

Me neither.

 

[panthera]

UPDATE: Dinuba Police Chief says 'policies followed appropriately' in chase before fatal Orosi collision; trio in fleeing car identified


Dinuba Police Chief James Olvera said today that an officer followed established procedures in a vehicle chase Saturday that ended in a two-car collision and the tragic deaths of five children from an Orange Cove family.


The Dinuba officer attempted a traffic stop on a Dodge Neon about 1:53 p.m. Saturday after observing the car run a stop sign at the intersection of Nebraska and Crawford avenues, a Dinuba police report states.


After the vehicle sped east on Nebraska — also Avenue 424 — and ran a stop sign at Road 104, a California Highway Patrol helicopter was called in to assist, the report states.


The Dinuba officer began to back off — the report does not give an estimate of distance between the Neon and the officer’s patrol car — and shortly thereafter, the officer witnessed the Neon run the stop sign at Road 120 and slam into a GMC Sierra pickup.


The pickup, traveling south on Road 120, was carrying seven members of an Orange Cove family. All five children, between the ages of 1 and 8, died in the crash.


The parents of the five children remain in a Fresno hospital. The mother, Jennifer Salazar, 26, is in critical condition, while the father, Carlos Salazar Jr., was upgraded to fair condition, according to family members.


The three people in the fleeing vehicle died in the crash. They were: Arthur Rivas, 19, and Richard Carrasco, 16, both from Dinuba, and Oscar Esparza, 17, of San Diego.


After the crash, authorities identified the Neon as a stolen in a recent carjacking in Selma.


“Administrative policies were followed appropriately,” Olvera said in a written statement.


The department did not identify the officer involved in the pursuit. The officer has not been placed on administrative leave, a police spokeswoman said.


The department is undertaking an investigation of the pursuit, a standard procedure followed after any police chase, the spokeswoman said.


The California Highway Patrol is handling a separate investigation into the collision.


See Tuesday’s Times-Delta for more on this story.

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20090810/NEWS01/90810008/UPDATE++Dinuba+Police+Chief+says+%E2%80%98policies+followed+appropriately++in+chase+before+fatal+Orosi+collision++trio+in+fleeing+car+identified++

 

[panthera]

"New details about the string of events that led to the deadly Saturday collision emerged Monday.

Elizabeth Villalobos, a Dinuba police spokeswoman, said the car involved in the initial pursuit, a 1995 Dodge Neon, was not discovered to be stolen until after the collision.

The vehicle was taken during a recent carjacking in Selma, Villalobos said.

Police said an officer attempted a traffic stop on the Neon about 1:53 p.m. after seeing it run a stop sign at the intersection of Crawford and Nebraska avenues, within Dinuba city limits. The vehicle failed to stop for the officer and sped east on Nebraska, or Avenue 424, increasing the distance from the police car, police reported.

After the Neon ran through another stop sign, at Road 104, a California Highway Patrol helicopter was called in and the pursuing officer began to fall back a Dinuba police report did not specify a distance — from the fleeing vehicle, police said."

more at http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20090811/NEWS01/908110307

 

[Disguiseduser0308]

I thought there was a law against riding in the back of a pickup truck, just because of the dangers and not being able to be properly restrained? Even if they'd been inside the truck there aren't enough seat belts or room for 5 kids and 2 adults. MOO

Agreed, which is what I said in the first paragraph of my post.

Originally Posted by Disguiseduser0308
I agree with this in part. The other huge problem is these children were riding in the back of a truck. No one, especially not children, should be riding anywhere where there are no seat belts or the ability to use a child's car seat/booster seat.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

This is so tragic. I could not imagine what those parents must be going through right now. I hope the police aren't taking a lot of flack for this, as they were just doing their job. Obviously, it is the car thiefs fault for what happened, but the parents are ultimately responsible for not having their children properly restrained and endangering them by putting them in the back of the truck. You can't tell me that's the first and only time those parents did that. If they ever have another child, I hope they won't endanger it's life, too.

People need to take child restraints seriously. It makes me ill every time I'm driving down the road and see children crawling all over the car or sitting on someones lap. WHY do some parents think it's ok to endanger their children like that? It should be a child endangerment offense and the kids should be taken away while an investigation is done.

To those saying it's ok for children to ride in the back of a truck -- Absolutely NOT! Unless they are riding around the farm and even at that, accidents happen! 15 years ago, my 14 y/o cousin was riding in the back of a truck going about 15mph. The truck had to hit the brakes to avoid a dog. My cousin fell out and ended up in a coma for 3 months with permanent brain damage. At no time is it ever safe for ANYONE to ride in the back of a truck, especially a child.

These parents will have to live with the poor choices they made for the rest of their lives.

 

[ziggy]

If you understand the country and the farm/agricultural life - you know that riding in the back of the pick up truck is common. Lord I have no idea how all of us from the 50's and 60's made it...oh wait yes I do - we didn't have such a drug and youth problem with carjackings, stolen cars, police chases etc.

Don't blame the parents. Don't saddle EVERYONE with law after law after law about the safety when these people SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN HIT BY THESE YOUNG CRIMINALS.

Who is to say that these punks wouldn't have been speeding and run a stop sign and killed them anyway? The reason they were noticed was for doing exactly that.

The police killed 5 children??? My blood boils.

 

[panthera]

Agreed, which is what I said in the first paragraph of my post.

I was just reinforcing your point!

 

[LaLaw2000]

I get so sick of people attacking the police. The ONLY ones responsible for these deaths are the dirtbag criminals that stole the car and ran. PERIOD.

Thank you, .!!! I do also!

 

[LaLaw2000]

No one seems to like the police until he/she needs them. Then LE is wonderful if they have helped the person who called them.

You cannot stockpile children in the bed of a pickup truck. There are child restraint laws. IIRC, it has now become a law that passengers in the back seat also have to have a seat belt on. WTF was up with the driver of the pickup letting the children ride like that?

The criminal carjackers were the ones at fault here. It is their fault an accident happened, not the police. Why not just stop when they saw the police was after them? Do the carjackers ever watch tv and know that they always get caught or get themselves killed attempting to flee? LE was doing their job, IMO.

My heart and deepest sympathy is with the children. GB the little ones. They are innocent. This was indeed a tragedy.

 

[panthera]

Father in Dinuba crash released from hospital

Carlos Salazar Jr., the father of five children killed in a car crash at a rural intersection in Tulare County last weekend, has been released from Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday.

more at http://www.fresnobee.com/406/story/1597418.html

 

[Oblio]

http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/1599045.html

The CHP has announced that parents will not be charged.

 

[panthera]

http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/1599045.html

The CHP has announced that parents will not be charged.

They are going to suffer the loss of all their children for the rest of their lives. That will be enough punishment. :cry: MOO

 

[MisterMoose]

Not that it matters after all this time, but the kids were not in the back of the pickup. It was an extended cab truck and they were all inside, but not restrained.
Despite lights and sirens oncoming traffic would not have seen the cross traffic due to the trees and the officer being about a half mile behind.
Local police did not take too much flack over this. The children who died were related to an officer of the department. Everyone was hurting.
I had the misfortune of being present that day and it has stuck with me for 11 years now. I wish I had known those kids some other way.

 

[BrownRice]

Not that it matters after all this time, but the kids were not in the back of the pickup. It was an extended cab truck and they were all inside, but not restrained.
Despite lights and sirens oncoming traffic would not have seen the cross traffic due to the trees and the officer being about a half mile behind.
Local police did not take too much flack over this. The children who died were related to an officer of the department. Everyone was hurting.
I had the misfortune of being present that day and it has stuck with me for 11 years now. I wish I had known those kids some other way.

Was there ever any type of civil lawsuit against the police?