Two young children are dead and two women are in the hospital with serious injuries following a fiery crash at the end of a high-speed chase in the Mountain View area of San Diego Friday night.
San Diego police say officers tried to stop a BMW sedan for speeding near 32nd Street and Ocean View Boulevard in Logan Heights shortly after 6 p.m. The vehicle did not yield to officers, triggering a pursuit.
Officers pursued the BMW onto the southbound 805 freeway. The CHP says four minutes later, the driver tried to exit the freeway at 43rd Street. There, the BMW slammed into another vehicle, a Honda sedan, with two adults and two children in it. The BMW and the Honda both rolled down an embankment and struck a tree. The tree then fell onto the Honda, causing it to catch fire.
After the crash, the BMW driver jumped out and ran off. San Diego police searched and eventually arrested a man believed to have been the driver. The driver was identified by the CHP as 20-year-old Angel Daniel Salgado Velasquez.
The CHP says two women, a 25-year-old driver and a 29-year-old passenger, and two boys, ages 3 and 8 were in the Honda. Paramedics performed CPR on the children before they were taken to the hospital. One of the women is believed to be the mother of the children. Both children died at the hospital. The woman suffered major injuries. Their conditions were unknown.
The names of the two women and two boys were not immediately released. A full investigation is underway into the tragic incident.
(Photo reporting partner 10News)