MISSION HILLS - A 3-year-old girl was killed and two adults were injured when the van they were in careened into a big-rig truck on the Golden State (5) Freeway in the San Fernando Valley community of Mission Hills this morning, the California Highway Patrol reported.
A CHP officer said that the collision happened about 9:30 a.m. when the out-of-control SUV, traveling south at high speed on a wet freeway near San Fernando Road, bounced off a light pole and hit the tractor-trailer vehicle. The toddler was apparently secured in a car seat but still suffered blunt head trauma and was pronounced dead at nearby Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, the officer said. He added that the girl's mother, identified as 50-year-old Mariana Ruiz of Bakersfield, had been behind the wheel and complained of chest pain; a passenger, 43-year-old Juan Torres, also of Bakersfield, sustained a broken arm and a possible concussion in the collision.
The CHP is still investigating the crash and is looking closely at matter of whether the girl was indeed properly secured in a child seat.
A CHP officer said that the collision happened about 9:30 a.m. when the out-of-control SUV, traveling south at high speed on a wet freeway near San Fernando Road, bounced off a light pole and hit the tractor-trailer vehicle. The toddler was apparently secured in a car seat but still suffered blunt head trauma and was pronounced dead at nearby Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, the officer said. He added that the girl's mother, identified as 50-year-old Mariana Ruiz of Bakersfield, had been behind the wheel and complained of chest pain; a passenger, 43-year-old Juan Torres, also of Bakersfield, sustained a broken arm and a possible concussion in the collision.
The CHP is still investigating the crash and is looking closely at matter of whether the girl was indeed properly secured in a child seat.
