Tragedy in Manteca
Four people died, including a baby, and three children are in the hospital with serious injuries after a crash on Highway 120 in the city of Manteca, California, on Saturday night, according to the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
Officers responded to the area of Van Ryn Avenue between Industrial Park Drive and Atherton Drive around 10:15 p.m. on Saturday to investigate a crash where a vehicle traveling on Highway 120 veered off the road and caught fire.
During the investigation, officers said a 2011 Toyota Sienna van was traveling westbound on Highway 120, west of Highway 99, at about 60 to 65 mph. They said the road was wet due to rainy weather.
Officers said the driver of the Toyota lost control for unknown reasons and struck the center median before entering the dirt and grass in the median that separates the eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 120.
The Toyota then continued westbound in the median before becoming airborne, crossing over the underpass of Van Ryn Avenue. The van then struck the overpass, overturned, and caught fire.
Officers said there were seven people in the van.
Good Samaritans Spring into Action People in the area pulled four children, including the baby, out of the vehicle. Officers said the ages of the children ranged from 6 to 14 years old.
"I thought it was a grass fire, but when we shined the lights from his truck, we saw people and then my husband comes out and in 29 seconds he has a baby," said Gina Rosamond, who was one of the good Samaritans who rushed to help.
She was filming with her cellphone and captured her husband carrying the baby out of the burning, overturned car. That's when she ran over to try to give the baby CPR.
"We tried to get another person out, I remember seeing an arm out the window," said Joseph Rosamond, who was one of at least 15 people who flipped the car engulfed in flames.
A 6-year-old girl was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. A 14-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy were also taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
The driver and three other passengers, including the young child, died. CHP said the driver was a man and one passenger was a woman. The final victim was a juvenile boy, CHP said.
"All I could hear when I was in there were two women, one young woman screaming and another one incoherently saying, 'Wait, wait, I'm here,'" said Christian Aceves, who lives just feet from the crash.
Christian's sister, Monica, was the first to arrive on scene, and he was right behind her, stopping any cars they could to help.
Monica said one of the people who stopped had a fire extinguisher in their car, and that helped to stop the spread of the fire.
"We didn't even stop to think about ourselves, we just knew we had to do what we could," Monica said.
The group of good Samaritans who came together to help included high school students in their prom dresses and suits who were returning from prom. They managed to flip the burning van over by working together.
According to the press release, the woman was not wearing a seatbelt, but the driver and child were. The release does not mention if the other four occupants were wearing seatbelts.
"You have to focus on the positive," Joseph said. "There were three that survived and they wouldn't have survived if everyone hadn't acted when they did."
The identities of the victims have not been released at this time, and the crash remains under investigation.
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