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An infant was killed and a 2-year-old is in critical condition after a crash on I-10 in Thousand Palms. (Photo: KESQ News)

An infant was killed and a 2-year-old was critically injured Sunday in a three-vehicle freeway crash on Interstate 10 near Palm Desert.

•   A Saturn with three children in the back seat tried to re-enter the freeway from the center median and was hit by a pickup truck.

•   The Saturn spun around into another lane where it was hit by a second pickup truck.

•   One of the children — a 9-month-old girl — was killed. A 2-year-old boy was critically injured. The third child wasn’t hurt.

•   The two adults in the Saturn suffered major injuries.

The fatal car accident occurred at about 6:45 p.m., according to a report in the Desert Sun.

California Highway Patrol Officer Joe Zagorski said the two children were riding in a 1997 Saturn SL4, driven by 21-year-old Alyissa Goss of Coachella. Another 11-month-old infant and 19-year-old Elizabeth Goss also were passengers in the vehicle. How the five people were related was not immediately clear.

For unknown reasons, the Saturn was in the center median  of westbound Interstate 10 when Alyissa Goss attempted to re-enter the freeway at Monterey Avenue., Zagorski said. As the car merged onto the freeway, it was struck from behind by a 2005 Ford F-150 pickup truck driven by 45-year-old Milo Santilli of Orange.

The Saturn hit the guardrail and then spun out of control into the Number 2 lane, into the path of a 1997 Ford F-150 pickup truck driven by James Stone Jr. of San Diego, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. The Saturn impact sent the pickup truck out of control and it crashed into the guardrail. The Saturn came to rest on the north shoulder of the freeway, near the first truck that had hit it.

Four of the five people in the Saturn suffered major injuries, Zagorski said. The 11-month old infant was not hurt. The 9-month-old infant  – later identified as Nevaeh Sessoms — was rushed to Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, where she was pronounced dead. The 2-year-old boy was airlifted via helicopter to Loma Linda Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition.

Zagorski said all three children were riding in the back seat of the Saturn. They were in child seats, he said, but “there were no indications that 9the seats) were properly installed.” The seats were not attached correctly to the car’s seatbelts, Zagorski said.

The two women in the Saturn, Alyissa and Elizabeth Goss, were taken to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. Their conditions and the nature of their injuries were not known.

Neither of the pickup truck drivers was injured.

The accident was being investigated by the CHP.

Palm Desert Car Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A pickup truck driver and three teens were killed Tuesday when the truck ran a stop sign and collided with a Tulare County work crew van near Porterville. (Photo: ABC News)

Three people were killed and seven others seriously injured Tuesday when a pickup truck ran a stop sign and collided with a Tulare County work crew van just outside of Porterville, about 22 miles south of Visalia.

• A pickup truck ran a stop sign on a rural highway and collided with a van transporting a juvenile work crew.

• The vehicles collided and tumbled off the highway.

• The pickup truck driver and two of the teens died at the scene. Five others were hospitalized with major injuries.

The fatal passenger van accident occurred at about 11 a.m., according to a report in the Porterville Recorder.

California Highway Patrol Lieutenant James Swearingen said 37-year-old Porterville resident Juan Reyes was driving a J & W Tire Service pickup truck north on Road 152 when he arrived at the intersection of Highway 190 (Poplar Avenue) and ran the stop sign there.

At the same time, a Tulare County Probation Office van hauling a small trailer was headed eastbound on Highway 190. The van was transporting a juvenile work crew back to the probation office in Porterville after a community service assignment in Earlimart.

When Reyes ran the stop sign, the van wasn’t able to avoid slamming into it. The van T-boned the pickup truck and the impact sent both vehicles off the road and into a nearby cornfield.

Five passengers were ejected from the van. Two of them — 15-year-old Deshawn Moore and 17-year-old Ingrid Coronel, both of Porterville — were pronounced dead at the scene, as was Reyes.

Seven others sustained major injuries.

Two of the juveniles — 15-year-old Abel Auntunez of Lindsay and 16-year-old Robbie Hernandez of Porterville — were airlifted to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, where they remain in critical condition.

The van driver, 45-year-old Darrel Fitzgerald Drone of Lemoore, and four other juveniles — 17-year-old Sonny Gutierrez of Lindsay, 15-year-old Pablo Rodriguez, 17-year-old Edgar Saucedo and 15-year-old Reynaldo Millan, all of Porterville — were transported via ground ambulance to Kaweah Delta District Hospital in Visalia, where they remain hospitalized.

“They were probably working off community service, trying to pay their debt to society one way or another and then they are involved in an accident where they are killed or seriously injured,’ Visalia CHP public information officer Scott Harris told the Visalia Times-Delta. “It’s really sad.”

Tipton resident Eddie Martin, who lives on Road 152 near the intersection, said he’d seen six fatal accidents there in 20 years.

“When you’ve seen as many as I’ve seen here, it’s not surprising,” Martin said. “People know my corner as the bad corner. But the corner is only as bad as the people [who] drive here.”

The accident is still under investigation. The CHP said drugs and/or alcohol don’t appear to be a factor.

Visalia Passenger Van Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented passenger van accident victims and their families for more than 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A Volvo driver was killed in a head-on collision with a pickup truck in San Jacinto. (Photo: Press-Enterprise) Click photo to see full size.

A 31-year-old man was killed in a head-on collision Tuesday morning when he failed to navigate a curve in front of a Scientology compound in San Jacinto.

•   A Volvo driver missed a curve, veered across a double-yellow line into oncoming traffic, and slammed head-on into a Chevy pickup truck.

•   The pickup truck driver was hospitalized with moderate injuries. The Volvo driver died at the scene.

•   Surveillance cameras at a Scientology compound caught the entire accident on videotape.

The fatal accident occurred at about 6:30 a.m., according to a report in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

California Highway Patrol officers said Oscar Avila of Moreno Valley was driving a red 1996 Volvo westbound on Gilman Springs Road at the time of the crash.

Avila failed to negotiate a curve outside the Scientology compound, Golden Era Productions, and crossed over the double yellow lines into the eastbound lane.

An eastbound 2006 Chevrolet pickup truck swerved to try to avoid hitting the Volvo and barely sideswiped it. But the Volvo continued driving toward oncoming traffic and slammed head-on into an eastbound 1991 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by 41-year-old James Beach of Garner Valley.

Beach sustained moderate injuries and was hospitalized. The nature and extent of his injuries was not released.

Avila, who was driving the Volvo, died at the scene. He was pinned inside of his car. The Volvo was so mangled that firefighter rescue workers had to cut off the roof and then use a cutter and spreader to dismantle the vehicle in order to get Avila’s body out.

The CHP said all three drivers were wearing seat belts. Investigators have not ruled out alcohol or drugs as possible factors in the crash.

The Scientology compound has surveillance cameras that monitor the road — they caught the entire accident on videotape. Investigators are reviewing the tape to determine what happened.

San Jacinto Car Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims for 35 years.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126

Firefighters used the Jaws of Life to cut through the side of a vehicle (see inset) and pull out a car accident victim in Hollister. (Photo: Hollister Freelance)

Alhambra police officer Ryan Stringer (inset) died Sunday in a patrol car crash. (Photo: San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

Five people were hospitalized after an SUV rollover crash in Morgan Hill. (Photos: Morgan Hill Times)