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Parent of Rancho Santa Fe Car Crash Victim Speaks

“Had she not had that seatbelt on, she probably would not be here," the teenager's mom told NBC 7

The mother of one of seven teenagers injured Tuesday in a rollover crash in Rancho Santa Fe said the scene at the emergency room was terrifying.

"It was like a nightmare. I didn't know what to expect," said Ursula Perrone. "It was more walking into that craziness."

Peronne's 17-year-old daughter, Daniela, suffered several injuries in the crash and will likely spend the rest of her summer recovering. Daniela will be a senior at San Marcos High School in the fall.

"She has a fracture in her spine but that will heal. She's got a broken elbow, a broken hand," Perrone said. 

It was 8:30 a.m. when firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs from Rancho Santa Fe to Encinitas to Escondido to San Marcos first responded to a crash near Elfin Forest Road and Harmony Grove Road.

According to some witnesses, the driver of a red SUV had failed to negotiate the turn and flipped the vehicle on its side. There were seven teenagers inside the SUV.

A split second after the SUV rolled, the overturned vehicle was hit by a black SUV driven by Celia Ebrahimi.

Ebrahimi was accompanied by her two children in the SUV, who were also injured.

"The last thing [Daniela] remembers is the car flipping and waking up in the ambulance," Perrone said.

Ebrahimi told NBC 7 in a previous interview that she saw the driver of the vehicle driving recklessly and that is what led to the crash.

But at this point, authorities have not cited anyone for the accident.

However, Perrone agrees there are lessons to be learned from this frightening crash, including the importance of seatbelts.

“Had she not had that seatbelt on, she probably would not be here," Perrone said.

Daniela is expected to be released from Palomar Hospital sometime Friday. A friend remains in intensive care and another teenager remains hospitalized.

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