BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — It's happened yet again. A 6-year-old girl is killed in a traffic accident right here on East Panama Lane and police say a suspected drunk driver caused it. I'm Chantaye Imani, your Bakersfield neighborhood reporter.
Around 7 a.m., Sunday morning a black sedan and an SUV were going westbound on East Panama Lane near Cottonwood Road.
Police say the driver of the sedan rear-ended the SUV at a high rate of speed, causing the SUV to roll and the sedan to veer off the road into an adjacent vineyard.
A 6-year-old girl in the SUV was killed, while the driver and an infant sustained minor to moderate injuries.
Amber Morales: "Losing children already to that definitely it's really heavy because I can't imagine what that poor mom is going through what she's facing right now everything kind of makes you relive all that and it's just really sad because it shouldn't of happened."
Amber Morales knows what it's like to lose loved ones in a drunk driving accident, her husband and three children all killed at the hands of a drunk driver.
BPD says the accident is still under investigation.
What we do know is that the suspect is 20-year-old Cesar Magana (pronounced Ma-Ga-Nya). He was arrested and booked on felony charges, including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of alcohol causing great bodily injury.
Matt Clark, a lawyer with Chain Cohan Clark says this isn't anything new or surprising. Matt Clark: "Up until the fatality this past weekend there would've been 23 fatalities so far this year we are now at 24 that is a shocking high number outside the statistical norm for Bakersfield."
Anytime Amber Morales hears about something like this happening, she says it brings back painful memories. But she adds, parents need to educate their children at a young age about drinking and driving.
Amber Morales: "I want to encourage families to talk about it talk with your children about it, because it makes a difference."
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