A registered nurse has been arrested and will be charged with vehicular manslaughter in a blazing Windsor Hills crash that killed five people, including a pregnant woman, law enforcement sources confirmed to The Times on Friday. did.
Investigators arrested Nicole Linton, 37, who they said was driving a speeding Mercedes-Benz that wrecked traffic at the intersection of La Brea and Slawson streets. Linton is currently hospitalized and is working with California Highway Patrol agents.
News of her arrest came when the coroner released the name of the deceased pregnant woman, Ashley Ryan, 23.
Ryan, who is eight and a half months pregnant, was on her way to the hospital with her boyfriend when their car was hit by a Mercedes. She and her boyfriend died, as did a one-year-old baby and Ryan’s unborn child, according to Ryan’s sister.
“I cried already. I cried. I didn’t get any sleep. I cried all out,” Sha’seana Kerr, who claims to be Ryan’s sister, said on Instagram. Have to.”
When Carr watched the video of the crash shortly after the crash happened, she realized something was wrong.
“As soon as I saw that video, it hit my heart and became another hit. I felt connected,” she posted. “She took my sister to my nephew, my brother-in-law. She took my son’s only cousin. We are so hurt.”
Authorities are conducting blood tests on Ms. Linton to see if she was under the influence at the time of the crash, two law enforcement sources said.
She is scheduled to be formally charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney on Monday.Linton’s family declined to speak to The Times reporter on Friday.
Linton will likely be charged with murdering the unborn child and five other people.
Eight people were also injured in the accident.
Surveillance video shows the Mercedes-Benz speeding down La Brea as dozens of cars traversed the Sloson intersection. Mercedes ignores a red light and crashes into a car at an intersection, bursts into flames and crashes into a lamppost, where it stops.
After the crash, a line of fire burned to the ground.
I could see billowing smoke from miles away.
California Highway Patrol spokesperson Constable Franco Pepi said three adults, including a pregnant woman, and an infant died in the crash on Thursday afternoon.
Authorities later found another person’s body in one of the burning vehicles, he said. Thursday night, I didn’t know the person’s gender or age.
Authorities took eight people to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for treatment, he said.
The woman, who did not want to be named, told The Times that a Mercedes-Benz crashed into her car as she was leaving a United Oil gas station.
“I was out, I had gas,” she said. “Suddenly, a Mercedes came up to me… fire. I turned and hit the side bench.”
The crash made her fear a gasoline fuel explosion, she told The Times.
Nearby, Linton’s Mercedes-Benz hit a curb and came to a halt.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but a CHP spokesperson said investigators determined the Mercedes-Benz was driving “fast”, ignoring a red light while driving south through La Brea. said.
At least six vehicles were involved in the crash, three of which were engulfed in flames, Pepi said. The rest received moderate damage.
Mourners began to gather at the crash site on Friday. Road crews were replacing traffic lights damaged by the crash.
Elan Hall has worked across the street at La Brea Gas for about eight months and has seen a few car accidents, but he never likes the one that happened on Thursday.
“Everyone was shocked,” Hall told The Times on Friday morning. Some people started
Hall said at least two people fled with fire extinguishers.
Henry Sanchez, who works at a Sinclair gas station, said the blaze had gotten out of control.
“At that point, it was too late for people to do anything,” Sanchez said.
Before crashing, Sanchez heard the car scraping down the hill.
“You can hear the tires wearing down,” Sanchez said. “The sound stuck in my mind.”
Noel Sr., who works at Little Kingston Jamaican, heard a loud bang and stepped out of the store down the street to see a pillar of fire rising from a petrol station sign. “There was nothing we could do. No one was going to come out of the fire,” said Senior.
“Everybody didn’t know what to do and went through the process of helping as much as they could,” said Jamarcus Robinson, who stopped by United Oil for Powerade during his run. saw the baby, there was a car seat on the street and the baby was not far away.”
“I slept very little at night,” he added.
Veronica Esquivar told KTLA-TV Channel 5 That the baby was resting at the intersection. “One of my girlfriends came and saw me with the baby and took the baby out of my hands. Someone tried to resuscitate the baby, but the baby was gone.” she said.
This story originally appeared los angeles times.