Two children were struck and killed by a car in California while attempting to retrieve luggage that had fallen from their vehicle.
The mother of the children, Sandra Ortiz, 33, was arrested in connection with the incident. The accident took place on the Route 78 Freeway in Vista, near San Diego, at around 6 pm on Sunday, June 18, according to reports from local news outlets. The victims were a teenage girl of 16 and a young boy of 10.
Miguel Aguilar, Ortiz’s partner for the past 13 years, told the media that besides the two victims, Amy Monserrat Beltran and Alan Gerardo Aguilar, there were four other children in the car at the time of the accident. According to Aguilar, the family of eight is homeless and has been living in hotels, and as of the last week, out of their car.
The heart-rending incident happened when Ortiz, who was driving a green GMC Yukon SUV, pulled onto the right shoulder of the freeway when the luggage fell to the highway. The children got out of the vehicle to pick up the suitcases and were fatally hit by a white Nissan Sentra.
The driver of the Nissan, a 41-year-old woman who has not been charged, stayed at the scene until the authorities arrived. Unfortunately, the children were pronounced dead at the site. Ortiz, who remained in the car while her children ran onto the highway, was arrested and faces charges of DUI, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and child endangerment.
