An infant was killed and his two siblings were injured when their mother, who police say was driving under the influence, crashed head-on into an SUV in the San Fernando Valley on Monday night.

Irlanda Sanchez, 23, was driving a 2003 white Toyota SUV recklessly east on Nordhoff Street about 11:45 p.m. when she veered into oncoming traffic and slammed into a 2017 black Chevy SUV near Tobias Avenue, said Officer Tony Im, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Her three children — infant twins who were 4 to 6 months old and a toddler — were hospitalized. One of the twins — a boy — died at a hospital, police said. The condition of the surviving twin was not provided by police Tuesday. The toddler had lacerations to the head and was expected to survive.

The man driving the Chevy SUV was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries and was expected to survive, police said. Video from the scene showed investigators combing through the mangled wreckage of the crash amid falling rain early Tuesday.


Sanchez, who was also treated at a hospital, was arrested early Tuesday on suspicion of murder, Im said. She is being held in lieu of $2 million bail, according to jail records.