Two horrendous traffic crashes in Twentynine Palms yesterday left one person dead, seven injured, and involved four helicopter life flights.
In the first, a woman was killed, and her three children injured, one seriously, following a broadside collision in Twentynine Palms Wednesday morning. According to the Sheriff’s Department, at 7:55 a.m., Terri Brooks, 26, was driving her Ford Fusion southbound on Utah Trail, with her three children, ages 1, 4, and 7. She stopped at the intersection of Highway 62, but did not see Kelly Diaz, 54, who was driving westbound on the highway in a Ford F-350 pickup truck. Brooks pulled out onto the highway into the path of the pickup, and despite her attempts to avoid the collision, Diaz crashed into the driver’s side of the car. The force of the collision sent the Fusion sliding 100 feet southwest of the intersection, into a vacant lot. Paramedics pronounced Brooks dead at the scene. Two of her children were up and walking after the crash; the third child was placed on a backboard, and they were all flown to Loma Linda University Medical Center as a precaution. Kelly Diaz was uninjured. Brooks’ husband is an active duty Marine at the Twentynine Palms Combat Center. Neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be a factor in the crash.
1 KILLED, 3 INJURED IN MORNING CRASH IN TWENTYNINE PALMS
