Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Baby, Lancaster Man Die After Unrelated Car Crashes

Two Lancaster residents, including a 1-month-old boy, died Tuesday from injuries suffered in separate traffic collisions.

Tyler Carey, who was riding in a secured child seat in the back seat of the car, was injured Monday afternoon as his mother, Vicki Carey, 29, tried to cross Palmdale Boulevard after stopping at a stop sign at 35th Street East, said Deputy Mike Redding of the Antelope Valley Sheriff’s Station. The car was broadsided by a vehicle going about 55 m.p.h. on Palmdale Boulevard and then knocked into a third car.

“Unfortunately the child was sitting in the right rear seat, and that’s the side that was broadsided by the car,” Redding said.

The baby was flown by helicopter to Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles, Redding said, where he was pronounced dead at 8 Tuesday morning.

Vicki Carey sustained possible liver damage and was in serious but stable condition Tuesday at Desert Palms Hospital in Palmdale. None of the occupants of the other two vehicles suffered serious injuries.

There was no stop sign for the driver on Palmdale Boulevard, Redding said. No charges have been filed.

An allegedly drunk driver was arrested after a two-car collision about 5:35 Tuesday morning on California 138 near the Golden State Freeway, said Officer Wendy Moore of the California Highway Patrol. Moore said Juan Sanchez, 33, of Inglewood, was driving east on the highway at an unknown speed in an erratic manner.

“Sanchez drifted into the opposing traffic lane and struck (a second car) head-on,” she said.

Royale Williams, 26, a passenger in the second car, died at the scene, Moore said. The driver of the car, Richard Conrad, 46, of Palmdale, was airlifted to Northridge Hospital Medical Center where he remained hospitalized Tuesday night. California 138 was closed for about three hours while officials investigated the accident, Moore said.

Sanchez, who suffered minor injuries, was initially arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol, Moore said. The charge was upgraded to murder after CHP officers learned he had been convicted of drunk driving in 1988 and is suspected in another drunk driving case pending in Inglewood.

Officials said Sanchez was in custody at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station in lieu of $400,000 bail.

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