CA - Five Salazar kids, ages 1-8, killed in police pursuit crash, 8 Aug 2009

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PrayersForMaura

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A fifth child has died after a stolen car fleeing police in California ran a stop sign and crashed into a pickup truck carrying a seven members of a young family, robbing a young couple of all of their children.
Dinuba police say that a carjacked Dodge Neon carrying the suspects sped away from police when an officer tried to pull the vehicle over for a traffic infraction Saturday afternoon. All three passengers in the Neon died when the car plowed into the truck, leaving a death toll of eight.
No one in the 1997 GMC pickup was wearing a seat belt, and the parents of the five deceased children, Carlos and Jennifer Salazar, remain in the hospital with moderate to major injuries.
Four of their young kids were killed at the scene, and a fifth — 8-year-old Carlos Eric Salazar — died at the hospital Sunday.
The four children who were ejected and died at the scene were identified as 7 year-old Jocelyn Grace Salazar; 4-year-old Monique Janae Salazar; 3-year-old Michael Alexander Salazar; and 1-year-old Sienna Rose Salazar, CHP Officer Felipe Martinez told FOX News on Sunday.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,538778,00.html?test=latestnews
 
FRESNO, Calif. -- While an Orange Cove couple remained hospitalized Monday, family members began making plans to bury the couple’s five children and questioned the cost of a deadly weekend police chase.

Carlos Eric Salazar, 8, died of his injuries Sunday at Community Regional Hospital in Fresno. His four siblings were killed immediately on Saturday when a car being chased by police slammed into his family’s truck. Three people in the fleeing car also died.The devastating toll left family members stunned and angered."Police killed five innocent children," said Mirtala Elizondo, a family relative told the Fresno Bee. "For what? A stolen car. A car is nothing."Dinuba police said they began chasing a Dodge Neon – that had been carjacked -- shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday when it refused to pull over for a traffic infraction.The high-speed pursuit ended about four miles outside the city limits when the Neon, ran a stop sign and collided with a pickup carrying a family of seven.California Highway Patrol Officer Felipe Martinez said the five Salazar children were riding in the back of the truck and were thrown from the vehicle on impact. None of the children were wearing a seat belt or any other kind of restraint.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/20335767/detail.html
 
I agree. The police are not to blame. This is a horrific tragedy. I feel for the family. However WHY were the kids riding in the back of a truck? That is against the law. Not only were they in the back of the truck, but there also are no seat belts. Again another law broken. These laws are in place for a REASON . The police followed protocol and I find no blame with them.
 
It's been known for quite a while that police chases can be dangerous and deadly. When you make a choice to chase, you are making a choice to put people at risk, because the risk is there and it is real.

Several of my family members just missed being hit by an irresponsible cop going 80+ mph on a road where the speed limit was only 55. The cop wasn't chasing anyone, he was just trying to get to a crime scene fast, problem was other LE was already there! He ended up crashing and rolling several hundred feet, and walked away from the crash.

Excessive speed by LE for any reason takes a terrible toll and needs to be curtailed. There is never an excuse for 5 innocent children dying, or anybody for that matter.
 
I get so sick of people attacking the police. The ONLY ones responsible for these deaths are the dirtbag criminals that stole the car and ran. PERIOD.
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I agree with this in part. The other huge problem is these children were riding in the back of a truck. No one, especially not children, should be riding anywhere where there are no seat belts or the ability to use a child's car seat/booster seat.

I am saddened for these parents but.. we have laws against this very thing. Had the children been in a proper car seat and restrained, they likely would have walked away with treatable injuries.
 
yanknrebel said:
I agree. The police are not to blame. This is a horrific tragedy. I feel for the family. However WHY were the kids riding in the back of a truck? That is against the law. Not only were they in the back of the truck, but there also are no seat belts. Again another law broken. These laws are in place for a REASON . The police followed protocol and I find no blame with them.
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It isn't against the law where my grandma lives, unless they changes the law recently. Not that I agree with it, but out in the country you always see kids riding in the back of trucks and my sister and I always did it when we were young. I really feel for this family. I cannot imagine the pain they are feeling right now...to have all their babies taken away at once. I don't blame the police but I agree that car chases are just not worth the trouble that they can cause.
 
In your view, then, all a criminal would need to do is speed and the police should let them go? How do you see that working out once the criminals spread the word?
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I never said that, you should reread my post. I said that excessive speed takes a terrible toll and should be curtailed. Curtailed means to reduce or diminish, according to the dictionary.

A good example is what almost happened to my daughter and grandchildren, they could so easily have been killed by a cop who just felt like getting to a crime scene faster. I believe unnecessary fast driving and unnecessary chases should be stopped.

It's just common sense to me. It's called responsibility. Responsible police chases and responsible driving.
 
Laws vary state-to-state

http://www.iihs.org/laws/cargoAreas.aspx

August 2009
California: if the person is restrained by a federally approved restraint system; farmer owned vehicle used exclusively within farming land or 1 mile of highway between 1 part to another; parade if not more than 8 miles per hour; emergency situations


What a tragedy. All those young lives lost. It's just heartbreaking.
 
I don't really think I have a reading comprehension problem, thanks for your concern. You said "...for any reason needs to be curtailed". That's an absolute - "any reason". Your statement tells me you feel the police should never exceed the speed limit for "any reason". If you didn't mean "any reason" I assume you would have used a different phrase.

These kids were not killed by the police, they were killed by the criminals. If the criminals had not stolen the car there would have been no chase. I want the police to catch the criminals. Criminals in stolen cars speed and commit other crimes - letting them go just shows them they can get away with it if they go fast enough. Is that a desirable outcome?
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I'm not here to argue. All I want to say is, think about it, would police capturing a car thief be worth the lives of 5 of your family members?

I feel strongly that Police need to learn to weigh the risks vs benefits of chases better. It will save lives. It just breaks my heart, those poor kids that just lost their lives, my heart goes out to their families.

I'm off. Don't like to argue. :)
 
I get so sick of people attacking the police. The ONLY ones responsible for these deaths are the dirtbag criminals that stole the car and ran. PERIOD.
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Thank you !!! :clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

I saw this on Fox News last night and it looks like a really rural area where there would be far less chance of something bad (like this accident) happening during a police pursuit. I'm also wondering if the police had lights & siren on while chasing the perps? I would think any other vehicles in the area would be able to hear the approaching sirens. I also heard that if the children had been restrained in the truck, which is required by law, they could've survived. So sad for the Salazar family to lose all their children, but I can't blame the police for doing their job. MOO
 
Disguiseduser0308 said:
I agree with this in part. The other huge problem is these children were riding in the back of a truck. No one, especially not children, should be riding anywhere where there are no seat belts or the ability to use a child's car seat/booster seat.

I am saddened for these parents but.. we have laws against this very thing. Had the children been in a proper car seat and restrained, they likely would have walked away with treatable injuries.
Click to expand...
I thought there was a law against riding in the back of a pickup truck, just because of the dangers and not being able to be properly restrained? Even if they'd been inside the truck there aren't enough seat belts or room for 5 kids and 2 adults. :( MOO
 
OMG a 1 year old riding in the back of a pick up? I feel for this family, and I am not sure if they all would have survived had they been restrained properly, but it is a bad idea to keep your kids in the back of pick up especially little ones.
 
The accident happened because a criminal stole a car. The kids are dead and the parents are seriously injured because they weren't restrained in any way. Any significant accident could have wiped out a family riding like that, police chase or not, the parents failed to protect their children.

I've never been in an accident, yet I've never once faltered on the assertion that my kids must be properly restrained or the car is not moving. Driving, and riding in, a car is a privilege, not a right. You don't just do it any way physically possible.
 
Many cities have ended high speed pursuits because innocent people die in them.
It is not an all or nothing policy, for instance here if the only info available is that it is a stolen car/property crime if they cannot box them in or trap then they have let them run. Most of these dirtbags do something else later and get picked up, the cars get found.

If they have reason to believe there is a fleeing felon that was involved in a violent crime they will pursue that, but not at high speeds through residential area or high traffic areas.

With the use of helicopters it is not really necessary to pursue them at 100mph through the streets that will almost always end in an accident (that the dirtbag usually walks away from). With the helicopter they can keep the police close by in hopes of trapping them, but they have to get out and run at some point.
 
Mendara said:
OMG a 1 year old riding in the back of a pick up? I feel for this family, and I am not sure if they all would have survived had they been restrained properly, but it is a bad idea to keep your kids in the back of pick up especially little ones.
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What I'm not understanding is why all five of the kids were in the back of the truck. It seems this was a king-cab which would've had that extra seat behind the driver/front passenger. It seems at least the youngest ones should have been in child seats and inside the truck. That's what the seatbelt laws are for ~ to protect people. :( MOO
 
There are a lot of issues to think about here.

1) hijacked car. Was there someone in the car who was hijacked, too, or were all three of the unidentified criminals?

2) Why were all those kids in the back of a truck, unrestrained?

3) what kind of road was the cop chasing this car on? a subdivision, neighborhood road, highway, busy street?
Seems awfully fast to drive on a local road even if it was police.
surely they had the license number and the car description. Weren't there other police officers that could've cut these hijackers off at some nearby intersections?

There's a lot of blame to go around here.
But the 5 innocent children are the victims here, and were failed by all parties involved for theft, reckless driving, endangerment of their welfare by the parents.

They didn't deserve this.
 
And furthermore, here's the real question ... why make a car that can go over 80 mils per hour if that is considered speeding?
Can't manufacturers put a limit on cars as to how fast they can accelerate?
 
impatientredhead said:
Many cities have ended high speed pursuits because innocent people die in them.
It is not an all or nothing policy, for instance here if the only info available is that it is a stolen car/property crime if they cannot box them in or trap then they have let them run. Most of these dirtbags do something else later and get picked up, the cars get found.

If they have reason to believe there is a fleeing felon that was involved in a violent crime they will pursue that, but not at high speeds through residential area or high traffic areas.

With the use of helicopters it is not really necessary to pursue them at 100mph through the streets that will almost always end in an accident (that the dirtbag usually walks away from). With the helicopter they can keep the police close by in hopes of trapping them, but they have to get out and run at some point.
Click to expand...
I agree there shouldn't be high speed chases inside city limits where there is a lot of traffic, but from the photos I've seen, it looks like this is a very rural area. It seemed to be a clear day and most people would be able to hear the approaching siren ~ I'd think. MOO
 
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