Personal Injury Law

SUV Collides With Big Rig Killing Toddler

By Greg Owen

A 3 1/2-year-old girl was killed Saturday when her mother lost control of her sport utility vehicle and crashed into a tractor-trailer on the 5 Freeway in Mission Hills.

Mariana Ruiz, 50, of Bakersfield, driving a 1998 Ford Explorer, got on the freeway at San Fernando Mission Boulevard about 9:30 a.m., struck a light pole and then hit the big rig, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The CHP's accident report concluded that Ruiz was "traveling at an unsafe speed for the wet road conditions."

The girl was pronounced dead at Holy Cross Hospital, said CHP Officer Francisco Villalobos.

A passenger, Juan Torres, 43, of Bakersfield, was injured.

The girl's identity was not released. No arrests were made and alcohol was not a factor, the CHP said.

Full post as published by Glendale Personal Injury Lawyer on July 01, 2009 (boomark / email).