CBS News reports that last week a DUI driver broadsided a van with six children inside. Two of the children were ejected from the vehicle they were riding in.
A total of 10 people had to be taken to area hospitals for treatment. Two of the children, one nine-year-old and a two-year-old, suffered severe head trauma and are currently listed in critical condition.
Authorities in Oakland say that the accident happened at the intersection of International Boulevard and 38th Avenue on Thursday evening at approximately 8:30 p.m.
Eyewitnesses at a nearby business said that the crash’s impact was so significant it sent glass flying against the windows of the establishment. Dayanara Padilla, the business owner, said that her father was teaching a class at the business when he heard the accident outside. He ran outside and began to render aid to the 9-year-old girl who was lying on the pavement.
“He said she had a lot of wounds, her arm was dislocated, she had two big openings on her head,” Padilla told reporters.
A spokesperson for the Oakland Police Department said that a total of three vehicles were involved in the crash. The suspected DUI driver who caused the crash was driving a Pontiac G6.
Witnesses told police that the driver was speeding in the bus lane on International Boulevard when he blew through a red light and T-boned the van with a family inside.
The DUI driver then climbed out of his disabled vehicle and attempted to flee the scene. Good Samaritans tackled the suspect, preventing him from escaping until police arrived at the scene. Once police arrived, the officers immediately placed the suspect under arrest.
Padilla said she was filled with rage when she heard the suspect yelling that he had children of his own.
“I just think someone with kids would take responsibility for their actions,” she said.
