FONTANA — Just before 9 p.m. Wednesday, a California Highway Patrol officer attempted to pull over a vehicle that failed to stop at a red light. But when he approached the car, the driver hit the gas pedal and took off.
The high-speed-chase that followed lasted only a minute but reached speeds of 90 mph. The driver, a 14-year-old boy, lost control of the car and hit a curb, which sent the vehicle airborne, crashing onto the roof of a home on Alder Street.
When the vehicle came to rest in the front yard of the home, the driver and an 11-year-old passenger had been ejected and were pronounced dead at the scene. A 6-year-old boy riding in the back seat was removed from the vehicle in critical condition. He died at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center shortly afterward.
CHP Officer Daniel Temple from the San Bernardino office said the scene was a difficult one to witness, even for officers.
"This is an amazingly tragic situation where there are so many people impacted," he said. "We have the three boys and their families, the house that was struck was occupied by five people; and they had to face the victims lying in their front yard; the officers had to witness this, and they were equally traumatized by seeing these young men whose lives had ended."
Neighbors have left flowers at the site where the Nissan Altima went airborne. Gabriel Turegano said he heard the crash. "It sounded like an earthquake," he said, "a big bang."
Dolores and Edward Pimentel agreed. They own the home where the car crashed through their concrete wall and onto their roof.
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"My heart goes out to the fmaily of the three kids," she told NBC4's John Cadiz Klemack.
