3 Children Killed, 2 Burned as Driver Hits Parked Car
Two children remained in critical condition with severe burns Saturday after three of their siblings were killed in Banning by a suspected drunk driver who rear-ended their parked car in a fiery Christmas Day crash, officials said.
The crash and explosion burned 8-year-old twins Adrian and Adriana Montalbo to death, along with their 15-year-old brother, Julio.
Their brother Marcos, 9, and sister Michelle, 14, escaped but suffered third-degree burns over 65% to 80% of their bodies, a nursing supervisor at San Bernardino County Medical Center said.
The suspect was also listed in critical condition with severe burns.
“It was horrible,” Banning Police Officer Robert Moffet said of the accident. “It’s probably the worst I have ever seen.”
The children, all from Banning, were hit about noon Friday as they waited for their parents and a sister, who had gone into a home to wish relatives a merry Christmas.
The driver, a 25-year-old man who was not identified, had been speeding and driving erratically through the city, officers said.
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