Parents of Baby Killed in Crash Will Return to Mexico

Still bloody and bruised from the deadly car accident that killed his 4-month-old son, Gerardo Sanchez is preparing to return to Mexico on Thursday to bury his only child.

But as the family made funeral arrangements, authorities tried to determine whether to recommend that the parents be charged with child endangerment. Police said the baby, Jesus Sanchez, was sitting on his mother’s lap, not strapped into a child’s seat as mandated by law.

The driver of the car, a friend of the Sanchez family, was booked on suspicion of drunken driving Saturday night after his Dodge Daytona crashed into a pickup truck carrying five people.

The Sanchez family, the baby’s aunt Lucia Mateo and her boyfriend, driver Jesus Garcia Buenrrostro, 19, were returning home from dinner when the accident occurred. The driver was booked into Ventura County Jail and held on $100,000 bail.

All 10 victims were taken immediately to three local hospitals. All, except the baby, were released without serious injury.

On Monday morning, accompanied by several friends and relatives at Garcia’s Mortuary in Oxnard, Sanchez said the trauma of his child’s death has prompted the family to move back to their native Atapan, in the Mexican state of Michoacan.

With stitches on his earlobe and a swollen right cheek, Sanchez said he and his wife, Lorena, were having a hard time coping with the death of their son, who died on Sunday night as a result of massive head trauma.

“We are going to go back to Mexico because of what has happened to my family,” said Sanchez, 21, who has been married to Lorena, 18, for three years.

Garcia’s car, which was heading northbound on Saviers Road from Channel Islands Boulevard at 10 p.m., crossed over the center divider and crashed into the pickup truck, police said.

The baby, who was sitting in the rear seat, was crushed by the weight of his mother pressing him against the front driver seat, police said. Police say the baby probably would have survived if he had been strapped into a car seat.

Last year, authorities recommended that a 22-year-old Oxnard mother be charged with a misdemeanor for failing to buckle in her 3-year-old daughter who was killed in a car accident. The child, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the car seat and died instantly. After the case was investigated, no charges were filed.

“There is no way to protect a child from the forces that occur from the impact of an accident,” said Oxnard Police Officer Randey Cole. “[Jesus Sanchez] died as a result of not being in the restraint seat.”

The family is consumed with grief, said Mateo, who described Jesus as a good-natured, happy boy who would crack a big smile when his father and uncle entered the room. Mateo said she finds herself at a loss for words of advice to give her younger sister.

Mateo said her sister and brother-in-law, who lived with her in Oxnard, have moved in with a cousin temporarily because the photos and memories of their baby are too much to bear.

“It is really difficult to comprehend what she is going through,” said Mateo. “He was her only baby. It is going to take a lot of strength to move forward.”

Lorena Sanchez’s uncle, Jose Mateo, said his niece was bruised and sore from the accident but most of all pained from the loss of her only child.

“She’s not doing well,” he said, adding that they feel no bitterness toward the driver of the car. “I told them to take things calmly and try to keep going.”

Garcia’s Mortuary is scheduled to hold a wake for the child at 7 p.m. Wednesday.