Drunk Driving Suspect Held After Crash Kills 3

A suspected drunk driver was arrested after a rear-end car crash Thursday in Diamond Bar left two children and a grandmother dead and three others hospitalized.

Kevin Williams, 28, of Diamond Bar was booked for investigation of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of alcohol, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Roosevelt Blow said.

Williams, who was treated for minor injuries, was being held Friday in lieu of $50,000 bail at the Twin Towers jail in Los Angeles. He is scheduled to appear in a Pomona court Tuesday at 8 a.m.

The victims were reportedly traveling from La Puente, where they live, to Pomona when their car was struck from behind about 8:40 p.m. Thursday on Golden Springs Drive near the Orange Freeway overpass, east of Brea Canyon Road. The car smashed into a freeway support piling.

Scott Carrier of the coroner’s office identified the dead as Josefina Castellanos, 56, her grandson, Jonathan Pedroza, 7, and Cristal Martinez, 4, all of La Puente. Castellanos was the baby-sitter for Cristal.

The names of the survivors are being withheld at their families’ request.

A 33-year-old woman was airlifted from the scene to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, where she was listed in guarded condition Friday. The other two survivors, an 11-year-old boy and a 37-year-old female relative, were taken to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, where they were in good condition, hospital spokeswoman Kathy Roche said.