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Subscribe to RSSNine people were hospitalized after a truck veered into a crowd outside of a California high school. KNBC-TV's Beverly White reports.
HEMET, Calif. - A high school student in a pickup truck ran into a group of teenagers who were crossing a street outside a California high school Wednesday, leaving nine people injured and backpacks and clothing strewn across an intersection, officials said.
The accident occurred shortly after school ended for the day at Hemet High School, Riverside County fire officials said in a statement.
Eight out of the nine people hospitalized were students, officials said.
The driver, a student at the school, named by police a David Carrillo,18, ran into a group of people who were in an intersection headed toward the student parking lot and the school's football stadium, principal Emily Shaw said.
"The kids were in the crosswalk doing everything right," Shaw said.
Three of those victims were in critical condition, including 15-year-old Helen Richardson, who was in a "conscious coma" and intubated, according to her mother Trisha Telezinski.
Read more at NBC4 Southern California
Witnesses reported hearing Carrillo yell out, "My brakes have gone out," Telezinski said.
Early reports indicated eight pedestrians were taken to the hospital, and at least five of the victims were students, according to CAL FIRE. California Highway Patrol later clarified that nine people were hospitalized, eight of them students at the high school, which had just let out at the time of the crash, according to NBCLosAngeles.com.
NBC4 News said highway patrol officials believe the truck may have had a mechanical problem and has been impounded for inspection.
Drugs and alcohol have been ruled out as a factor, officials said, adding that criminal charges against the driver, if any, will be determined after the evidence has been examined.
A statement released by California Highway Patrol Officer Darren Meyer said the truck was travelling "at a speed greater than the 25 MPH school zone speed limit.”
"The driver stopped immediately after the collision to assist the victims," Meyer said.
Parent Rick Chavez witnessed the accident while waiting at the red light just after picking up his son, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.
“The guy went through the red light. …I saw the truck and started screaming out ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa!’” Chavez told the newspaper. “He plowed right into the kids. Two girls were really bad. I thought they were gone. I was in shock.”
NBC4's Olsen Ebright, Samantha Tata and Beverly White, msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Ive lost brakes in 4 different vehicles throughout my life and was able to stop all of them. One time I did have to run a light since i was on a hill and couldnt stop. Another time I was coming down a mountian with all 3 kids. I am a mechanic and take care of my cars. SH*t happens. At least he stopped. Im sure he feels horrible
By the way, my comment is about the article above, not ignorant babbling. Did the kid have a license? Was it valid, or expired? Was the kid insured? Was the truck inspected correctly and.....legally? If any one of those hurt dies, there should (should because sometimes they do nothing) an investigation and charges made. Peace!
You sound like a cop. Let's see how many tickets I can dream up to give this guy. Make sure you give a business card for a lawyer to each victim and get your kickback
only amateurs speculate,
the truth is that too many people are allowed to claim their own stupidity in action was an accident.
too many people are allowed to go the local auto parts stores and get major repair parts and "TRY" to do the work on their vehicles when the work in most all cases should have been done by someone with real mechanical experience, not just guessing what goes where and guessing how the parts go back together,
i have had people ask if could change CV axles for them, but of course they only ask after they finally admit that they didn't know what they were doing,
the final admission isn't always the case before people get hurt.
the simple fact that the local auto parts stores are even allowed to sell parts to the majority of people is the problems with most if not all equipment failures,
it's the same as with the building fires and collaspes and flooding, just any time something goes wrong, and the truth was that they went to a place like "HOMELESS DEPOT", "LOWER EXPECTATIONS" OR "ACELESS HARDWARE" thinking they could do carpentry, plumbing and/or electrical work.
but society wants to claim it all was just an accident and not their fault.
Those are the same people that when they were kids they would play games and complain they didn't know how to play it after just tossing the instruction manual to the side and not reading it. Anyone can do minor carpentry, plumbing or electrical. Notice I said minor. I know how to replace windows, drywall, build a deck, replace drains, replace sinks, change out supply lines, wire lights, add a circuit, replace outlets (electrical is just connect same color wires together pretty much). But if I did something major, I'd get a professional. For my car, I change the oil, rotate the tires, keep it clean and tidy but if I need major repair, I take it in. Except when my rear axle detached itself on one side from the body, I just welded it back. Worked great, the car was even within 1/8" of square also. But then someone lost control of their car and T-boned me in the rain and totalled it.
Anyways, I agree with you, if people don't know how to do it or want to make sure they do it right but just do it themselves to save money, they shouldn't do it.
i have had and still have people that get themselves into things they don't have the first clue on things they get themselves into,
one recent example was with an individual who i used to work with, he wanted to be the one in charge, but he didn't have the first idea to use the equipment required or how to do the work that was to be done,
but as with most people i unfortunately have to work with, they want to be the ones to be in charge and telling everyone what to do.
the job was to switch out a furnace that was suspended from the ceiling, we needed to use a forklift to lower the old one and to raise the replacement one into place,
he couldn't even figure out how to start the forklift,
then the only other thing he had to do was wire the simple two wire thermostat, (he claimed to be an electrician) he asked where's the wiring diagram,
i had to tell him which terminals to "land"the wires on.
another case was with an individual who told some people he answered an ad from "craigslist" that he could install some ceiling fans for,
the costumers already had the fans, they also had remote controls to add to them,
this guy had no idea, and even admitted that before we went to the job,
but even though the guy had no idea, he still wanted to make all the money.
i have had people who call me after they couldn't figure out how to reconnect the wires they disconnected, trying to change a couple off light switches, changing them to dimmers, but then cry and complain about how much i was charging to "wring out"(a term in the electrical trade to determine where the wrires go and come from).
He had a complete front end kit on it A frames control arms everything looked brand new
just because everything looks brand new doesn't mean the work was done right.
look at every thing at the home improvement stores, it all looks good until the uneducated try to install it.
it would be funny if it wasn't true that people cry and complain about the cost of their insurance, whether it be insurance for their property, vehicles, health, business, etc.
but they are directly responsible for the costs when they keep driving the wages down of those willing to do the work that actually know what they are doing by hiring the lesser qualified because they do the low quality work for so much less and then cry and complain about being screwed and ripped off, they don't even think of the fact that they are the people who screwed the working classes out of an actual living wage because they have had the idea to think their pathetic excuses are and were worth the fortune because they spent a few years of drunken dorm and spring break parties.
If the breaks don't work, including the emergency, before risking hurting any one, shut the car off, or throw it in reverse...you'll wreck the transmission but have a better chance of not barreling into any one! The cost will be much cheaper than being sued.
Craig Renneker, Ford's Chief Engineer for transmission programs. As a way of protecting us from ourselves, automakers design a function called Reverse Inhibit into transmissions to prevent inadvertent selection of reverse. "Putting it into reverse [in modern cars] when going forward has no action at all, the car just ignores the request until you get down to a proper speed," said Renneker, using Ford's six-speed automatics as an example; "It'll just say 'hey, I know you want reverse pal, but I'm just not going to give it to you until the appropriate time.'"
I live here. And my sister owned a similar Ford Ranger (although this was modified, which is common in our community.) I do not know if it is still Hemet High School's policy, but they use to have a policy that to park in their student parking lot, the student had to obtain a parking permit, which requires a vehicle safety inspection. There is plenty of public parking along the streets adjacent to the high school, so this student may not have had a parking permit. There were things this student could have done differently, there are curbs on the outside of this stretch of road or a curb and fence down the middle, he could have steered his truck away from the pedestrians. My best guess is that this student panicked and "under-reacted". One more reason I am not ready for my 16 year old to get her license.
I would also like to say (being a minority WHITE in this community) please DO NOT assume this young man was illegal. This is a farming community, and the Hispanics here work hard, doing work white men are not willing to do. They deserve our respect, and the same benefit of the doubt that white people get. And for you political naysayers, I am Republican, and I am sick of the hatred that is tearing this Country apart.
I'm sorry you had to bring up that you are a Republican it's not our fault you are, and that this recession and all the fighting is from the group of no.
guest123 It was modified so much it turned into a Chevy Colorado 2004 or above I went to another web site that shows the front of the truck
My thing is to always look both ways when crossing the street. That's just me though.
Reinstate mandatory vehicle inspections.
I heard that they are putting the low/high beam button back on the floor by 2014...........
The Pollacks keep getting their foot caught in the steering wheel.
Nah... just kiddin' :-)
J. LIn...I agree completely with you...
Also, when I'm driving, I ALWAYS look both ways when a light turns green
to be sure nobody has run the light in either direction!
jd,
Just curious, do you have a "T" top roof in your vehicle?
If not, it must be tough driving with your head tilted to the side dude.
The brakes were out? So his steering was out too? There is more to this story for sure.
He's young and has no experience to know what to do in such a case.
Steer right or left and hit the kids walking on the sidewalk. Throwing it in park won't help. It'll just make a loud clicking sound and keep rolling. You have to throw it in reverse to lock up the rear tires.
Emergency breaks don't help much in p-ups.
A local newspaper said that he moved into the turning lane so I think he was already taking evasive actions and just couldn't do it anymore.
Sometimes trucks/cars dont work like that. I know with my f150 before my breaks didnt work for a second, I hit them and went all the way down and nothing happened then when I brought my foot back up and hit them again they worked...that doesnt mean my breaks went out could just mean that they didnt catch on right, and thats when I went and got them changed. So it is possible that he could have just freaked out in the moment when his break werent working that he just didnt even think...not saying what happened is right just saying that it is possible for your breaks to mess up
and clearly hes one of those probably shouldnt be on the road drivers if he couldnt figure out an alternative to when his breaks did mess up
so now what libs...ya gona ban pickups? hope they all come out of this ok. and kudos for the kid stopping to help.
I hope for his sake that, he was telling the truth (brakes failed). Because if he was lying he or his family will be in BIG trouble. You know what I mean $$$ (hospital bills). Also I hope the young student wasn't LYING just to get out of trouble. Neither he was angry at anyone in school.
Diana,
The kid yelled out the window that he had no breaks before he hit them trying to warn them.
Gene,
Of all the posts and all my thinking about it (which isn't much) I didn't think or read about hitting the horn. Hmmmm. Good idea man. It may have scattered the kids and none or maybe only a few would have been hurt......
This guy lives in my area. He is always driving like an idiot. Him and his friends race down my street and jump their cars in the dips and race and stuff. I've almost been hit a few times and they drive very recklessly. I hope he wasn't just showing off to his friends at the time like he does down my street.
Police said he was really showing off at 25 MPH
here in the land of baboons Massachusetts, they all love to use their horns, for everything but it's original intent,
they like to use it as a portable door bell,
or to let the blind people know they can also get the one finger wave too.
here, they actually have a question on the drivers test for that,
"for what purpose is the horn in the vehicle"
another question,
"for what state are you applying for your drivers license".
that is the truth, no exaggerating one bit either.
WOW for Real
when i went to the person and tell them i was done with the test,( the test is only multiple choice answers, so in fact you can take the test blind folded and pass)
i asked i could get a drivers license for the state of Hawaii so i could drive there some day, and someone else asked why i didn't ask for an Alaskan drivers license, i said well you can drive to Alaska, there's land between here and there.
as for the horn reference, i told her that i thought the horn was the portable door bell, just about everyone here will lay on the horn for what seems like hours to get someone to come out side instead of getting out and going to the door.
then the people from here actually have the biggest pair of balls to say things about people from other states, that people from other states don't know how to drive,
yeah right,
the majority of the people from here won't buy a vehicle that is designed to be driven in the snow, or at least having the roads plowed down to just an inch or so,
they waste their tax dollars away all spring and summer planting trees and flowers, but as soon as a few inches of snow falls, they cry and complain about the snow and wait out the time frame it takes to get federal funding to plow the roads,
it was the same when last October, a little snow and ice storm hit the area, the tree branches got a little over loaded with the snow and ice, the power company left the power out for a few weeks, just so they could get the federal funding, (the rest of the country gets hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes, far worse than a few inches of snow and don't get the federal funding as fast as they do here) they claimed it was a disaster area.
the spokeswoman for the power company as quoted said, " the trees can't be trimmed away from the power lines because that would take away from the aesthetics of the trees",
no apparently someone in charge has taken some initiative and called the companies that do actually trim the trees away from the power lines, and the residents of the same area are raising all kinds of hell claiming the trees are being raped and the land is being stripped, it's only the trees around where the power lines are.
and again, there's no exaggeration what so ever.
Have been driving for a lot of years,worked as an auto mech for over 45 years, just a couple points,pumping the brakes,will normally work in an emergency,if they are not ABS.Brakes failing suddenly as reported in this case can happen,although I would suspect a failed master cylinder if the brakes totally failed.If the truck had a manual transmission down shifting would slow it as well as account for the report of engine revving. Most automatics will not down shift over certain speeds, and a lot of them including the JATCO transmission used in Ford and Mazda trucks will not engage park while moving above a very slow speed,as another poster mentioned.As easy as it is to say what the driver should of done,When this happened to me I was able to steer through a gas station drive and rammed a big dumpster to avoid going in front of a propane delivery truck.I hope every one the injured make a full recovery.Hope the police have certified auto Mech check out the truck to find out what happened.
Perhaps you didn't read it. Pumping the brakes won't help if the master cylinder fails, thats what creates the pressure is the seals in the m.c.. Blown seals equals no pressure no matter how many times you pump the brakes. You may be able to "dynamite" them a couple times to slow you down but you must hold the pedal down to stop. I own a 98 explorer (basically the same vehicle in question and has ABS) as well as many other fords from the time frame and had the misfortune to experience both a hose/line blow, a wheel cylinder leak and a bad master cyl. at various times. Wood's statement seems to agree with what I had posted previously i.e. revving, pumping not helping on ABS systems, m.c. failure, and not going into park above x speed which of course why it is a secondary reaction. Until that speed is reached it will sound like a bucket of bolts in a meat grinder and when it does finally engage hopefully you just bounce your melon off the steering wheel as the wheels lock up and not snap the pin or basket in the tranny. Band-aids are cheaper than transmissions and much easier to replace.
Remember if park works it's only going to stop the rear tires so you will not slow down fast. I was just thinking if it goes into park only one rear wheel will lock up unless it has posi traction. So the truck will not slow down fast.
Hindsight bias is the worst thing. We can all sit here and analyze what the boy could have done right or wrong but these things happen in a fleeting flash and it can sometimes be hard to make any quick decisions.
I wish a speedy recovery to all of those that were injured. If it was a mechanical failure, I hope that the teen that hit the others can forgive himself if any of them have lasting injuries or die-it can be hard to forgive yourself, when you injure someone for life or they die-even if you are not at fault. I hope that it was that the brakes failed, and not an intentional act. I have seen brakes fail on vehicles, in fact, a teen bought a used car from a car dealership here in my hometown and later that day, his brakes failed and he ran into a convenience store. Luckily, he hit the building and not a pump and no one was in the way. Last thing I heard, they(the kid and his family-who actually "owned" the car since he was only 17) were suing the dealership for selling an unsafe car. Experience would have given the teens an idea of what to do, downshift, use the emergency brake, etc. However, you don't get experience from reading a book or taking a drivers test.
.......it sounds like this student was ""SHOWING OFF"" !!! He might of been impatient, and passed in the right turn lane, which is illegal. Gotta be very careful, with hundreds of precious lives walking out, and around the perimeter of the schools. At that age, their still immature drivers. Now you have car loads of friends, talking, loud music, TEXTING, maybe drinking, etc. Just a deadly formula. Let them take the bus, or drive them til 19+ and in college, or have a job by then.
It may sound like it to you but it's hard to show off at 25MPH. That's what the police said he was doing
Of course kids leaving school go roaring out of the parking lot (everyone did, even those you would elast expect). Kids also tend to not have brand new cars, so they have an old beater mom and dad can afford, and won't get worried about in cases of accidents, etc... so they aren't in the most tip top condition.
I wonder about the drivers ed program as well. Back in rural Missouri, my high school had drivers ed (for free) and we got to try lots of various circumstances to practice how to stop a vehicle. One being driving to a river boat ramp and the instructor told the student to keep fee off the pedals and he would control the brake with the instructor brake. He then told the student, not using the foot brake, stop the car from rolling into the river. (the student used the parking brake almost without thought). He then went on to explain other methods for stopping a car if the brakes are out. Is something like this included in the drivers ed for these kids in CA?
I hope the injured will be ok, and pull recover from their injuries quickly and with little to no change in quality of life. The poor driver too. Can you imagine heading towards any number of people with your car and feeling or thinking you can't stop it? Not to mention actually hitting them!? He must be devastated and I hope he finds resolution and closure.
....Grant High School in Van Nuys, when I pass by after it lets out the students at 3:15pm, I see a few kids showing off on their motorcycles, and cars. The guys on the cycles would do wheelies, yes, "wheelies" around the students on sidewalks, other cars, and even buses. The kids in the cars, would screech by, burning rubber, and doing crazy turns. You would think, one slip-up, and it wouldn't look good! There is school police (car) on Oxnard St. when the school lets out, but these kids still do the show-off stuff despite it
This kid was showing off and hit the gas instead of the brakes and he was probably looking at some dudes ass.
Craig Renneker, Ford's Chief Engineer for transmission programs. As a way of protecting us from ourselves, automakers design a function called Reverse Inhibit into transmissions to prevent inadvertent selection of reverse. "Putting it into reverse [in modern cars] when going forward has no action at all, the car just ignores the request until you get down to a proper speed," said Renneker, using Ford's six-speed automatics as an example; "It'll just say 'hey, I know you want reverse pal, but I'm just not going to give it to you until the appropriate time.'"
"If the transmission was not designed with a reverse inhibit feature, engaging reverse while driving forward will, most likely, stall the engine," Renneker said. "The car won't lock-up or skid, but it will slow down a bit and act like the transmission is in neutral."
Ok, let's get something straight first. This is NOT a truck. Here goes the media sensationalizing another news story by just putting the word "truck" in the headlines. It's a pick-up, if a TRUCK had hit these kids, they would be dead. As a truck driver, this type of headline infuriates me. When the term truck is used most people come up with the picture of an 18 wheeler. Now my thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this tragedy, but I wish the media would quit, as my first thought was how in the hell did a semi lose it's brakes and hit these kids?
it's all in what people consider to be acceptable terminology,
look at what people consider to be safe and viable cars these days,
i have had what apparently was sales people driving those glorified golf carts (smart cars), trying to sell me one because when i would see one in a parking lot and walk up to it, myself laughing at it, but the people would tell me about it's so called safety features and the rest of the crap sales gimmicks that come along with selling garbage to uneducated people,
i would ask about it's ability to hold up to being squished between two SUV's in an impact and they would go on to tell me about the " re-enforced role cage",
there's no one that could tell anyone with real knowledge of anything that one of those golf carts could with stand being squished between a couple of SUV's let alone a couple of tractor trailers.
truck, automotive vehicle designed primarily for the transportation of goods. A truck is constructed on the general lines of the automobile but uses larger and heavier parts. It may be powered by a gasoline internal-combustion engine or a diesel engine. In some trucks propulsion is supplied through a single front or rear axle, in others through two rear axles, and in still others through both front and rear axles. Many trucks have automatic or semiautomatic transmissions.
i know all about the differences, i driven a lot of them, but as i said it's more of the acceptable terminology that society has,
like i said, calling the glorified golf carts a "CAR" is just as outrageous.
Most refer to 18 wheelers as semis. A pick-up (or toy as they are sometimes called) are smaller trucks like an S10. When saying truck, most people probably think of a Silverado, Dodge Ram, or F-Series from Ford. I don't think I've ever thought of a semi when someone just said "truck"