The driver of a Black Mercedes-Benz, who can be seen in video footage running through a red light and ramming into multiple cars in Windsor Hills, has been identified. The driver is 37-year-old Nicole Lorraine Linton.
Four of the 6 victims have also been identified by the coroner’s office.
Asherey Ryan, 23, was pronounced dead at the scene alongside her almost one-year-old son Alonzo and her unborn baby boy. Friday evening, the family revealed that Asherey’s boyfriend and father of her unborn child, Reynold Lester, was driving their vehicle. He also passed away.
According to Asherey’s sister, the family were on their way to a doctor’s appointment. She spoke out on behalf of the family.
The young family died after Nicole drove her black Mercedes-Benz through a red light at almost 100 mph in the Los Angeles community. According to her Linkedin account, she is a nurse at Kaiser West Los Angeles.
One woman, who claims to be a friend of Nicole, said she believed she had been drinking after having an argument with her boyfriend before the deadly crash. She was alone in the car.
Officials said she slammed her vehicle into five other cars, killing 6 and injuring 8 people. The 8 who were injured have been released from the hospital. Six of the 8 were teens.
The remaining victims haven’t been revealed yet.
Nicole is being treated at a local UCLA hospital and was also arrested Friday. She is expected to be formally charged by the Los Angeles District Attorney on Monday.
Witness Veronica Esquival told KTLA that she was pumping gas when a baby tragically landed in the middle of the gas station. She grabbed him and handed him over to store workers who tried to resuscitate the child.
Another heartbroken witness Alphonso Word, who was just a few cars away from the intersection when the tragedy struck, said that the crash sounded ‘like a bomb.’
He said that the child was ‘ejected from the street’ as well as the pregnant mother, who ‘landed over to the side.’
The crash occurred on Thursday and was reported around 1:40 p.m. at South La Brea and Slauson avenues.
Tributes for the young family have been pouring in.
One person wrote online: ‘I don’t have any words rn [right now] I’m too much in pain because this is something I never expected no one did I’m going to miss you both and I didn’t get to say goodbye or make up for time lost with you Alonzo my heart is aching may y’all rest in piece god has gained two amazing angels.’
Asherey’s sister Cotie Davis spoke with CBS Los Angeles about her sister.
Sending condolences to the families of all the victims involved in this horrific tragedy.
A GofundMe page has been set up to help with funeral costs and therapy.
