11-year-old killed during hit-and-run on 60 freeway

LilyRose Cartwright, Staff Writer

On Wednesday, March twenty-second, 2023 an 11-year-old girl was killed and another was majorly injured due to a wrong-way crash (because of a hit-and-run driver) on the 60 freeway in Pamona.

This accident happened early on this Wednesday at about 4 a.m. and as the California Highway Patrol posted on Facebook this happened in the “westbound lanes of the freeway near Crossroads Parkway”.

This young 11-year-old girl was named Angelique Zarate she was presumed dead at the scene of the crash on the Pomona 60 freeway (said the Los Angeles County medical examiner corners office). How this came to play was Angelique Zarate was in a Toyota Camry as a passenger, and not only did this young girl Sudafed the fatal injuries leading to her death but the driver of the Toyota Camry (this person was a 50-year-old male named Rafael Zarate who lives in Moreno Valley) also suffered “major injuries” according to California Highway Patrol.

And about the person driving the vehicle that caused the whole accident. It was said that the vehicle was a black Hyundai Santa car that was traveling going the wrong way on the freeway. The driver of this Hyundai was to be described as a Latino male who seemed to be in his late 30s, he also had a fair skin tone with some medium-length hair that had been parted to the side at the moment (this was also said by California Highway Patrol) He was also wearing light-colored shirt and pants, and after this accident, he was said to have fled the scene while barefoot. (foxla.com)

Later on in the investigation of this tragic accident, the California Highway Patrol released more information on this fatal accident stating, ” Preliminary investigation suggests, the driver of (a) Hyundai Sonata was involved in a separate traffic collision on State Route 60 Westbound, west of Crossroads Parkway,” the CHP reported. “As a result of this collision, the Hyundai spun out of control and faced the wrong way. The driver continued traveling eastbound — wrong-way — in the westbound lanes of State Route 60 at a high rate of speed.”

It was also said that this vehicle had had multiple accidents and/or “collisions” with multiple cars while the car was driving eastbound (while driving the wrong way on the 60 freeway).

This young girl Angelique Zarate was extremely loved by her family. According to her family she, “had the biggest heart and always showed so much love to everyone around her.” This was a big tragedy for this whole family after the loss of this amazing kind hearted innocent young girl who didn’t deserve what had happened. (latimes.com)

What we can do now is send the best to the family mourning the loss of Angelique Zarate and we can let this be a lesson to families that anything could happen to anyone at any time so take the time you have to love your family and make the right decisions because you never know when something unexpected could happen and your life could be forever affected by this one accidental event.