Four people, including two children, were killed in a chain-reaction crash on the 10 Freeway in Fontana on Friday afternoon, and police are trying to determine if drunk driving was a factor, officials said.

A man driving a Nissan Frontier slammed into the rear of a Honda sedan that had pulled to the shoulder of the freeway near Cherry Avenue around 12:35 p.m., said Officer Jesus Garcia, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol’s Rancho Cucamonga office.

Two children in the Honda were killed, Garcia said. A woman who was standing outside the vehicle and a man who had pulled over to help the people in the Honda, which had overheated, were also killed, according to Garcia.

It was not clear if the Nissan struck all four victims, or if the force of the collision caused the Honda to strike the adults. The male victim, whom Garcia described as a “good Samaritan,” was hit with such force he was thrown over a wall at the edge of the highway.


Investigators found beer cans inside the Nissan and are investigating the crash as a possible drunken driving incident.

All four victims died at the scene, said Ryan Vaccaro, a public information officer with the San Bernardino County Fire Department. A female passenger from the Honda and the driver of the Nissan were taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton with minor injuries, Vaccaro said.

Officials were unable to provide the ages of the children who were killed. Investigators believe the woman who was killed was their grandmother.

The suspect was not identified, Garcia said.


james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.

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