Valley Village tragedy: 1-month-old infant girl thrown out of SUV and killed after collision with truck
VALLEY VILLAGE, LOS ANGELES: A one-month-old girl was killed in an accident involving a large truck and an SUV on the northbound 101 freeway in the Valley Village neighborhood of Los Angeles. According to the California Highway Patrol, the collision happened north of Tujunga Avenue at about 1.25 pm on Monday, January 16.
According to the investigation, a 2018 Land Rover carrying three Sylmar residents - Bobby Perez, Cynthia Olvera, and an infant - was traveling northbound on the 101 in the No. 5 lane when a big truck towing an enclosed van trailer merged onto the freeway immediately ahead of them. According to the CHP collision report, the Land Rover and truck collided in the lane, and the SUV rolled over multiple times before slamming into a concrete sound wall and coming to rest upside down.
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A passenger, who has only been identified as an infant girl, was thrown out of the car when it rolled over. The baby was in the car with Perez, 27, who was driving the car, and Olvera, 26, who was sitting in the passenger seat. The CHP report did not immediately make it clear if they were the child's parents. All three passengers were immediately taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center where doctors declared the little girl dead, as per NBC.
"A crash occurred between the Land Rover and the Kenworth within the No. 5 lane,'' the CHP said in a statement. "The initial impact caused Mr. Perez to lose control of his Land Rover, causing it to roll over multiple times before colliding with the concrete sound wall at the north road edge of US-101 northbound.''
The driver of the 2015 Kenworth truck was a 67-year-old Los Angeles man named Zumaya Gerardo. A news helicopter camera footage showed Gerardo sitting close to the accident scene, looking to be unharmed. Although it wasn't clear from the report whether the baby was in the seat at the time of the incident, camera footage showed a child's car seat on the road close to the crash scene.
CPH is continuing to investigate the crash. Witnesses to the crash are urged to call the CHP West Valley Area office at 818-888-0980, or the CHP Los Angeles Traffic Management Center at 323-259-3410.