Mother Can’t Recall Crash That Killed Her Infant Son

Alma Camarero recalls nothing of the collision when the motor home crushed her parked car on the freeway, resulting in her infant son’s death and the hospitalization of her 4-year-old daughter and the children’s father.

But Camarero seemed buoyed on Sunday, 2 days after the accident, by the good news that her daughter Vanessa could check out of UCI Medical Center in Orange and that the child’s father, Ufracio Gutierrez, 29, had improved markedly.

Surrounded by relatives at the hospital Sunday, Camarero recalled that moments before the fatal collision, young Vanessa had become ill and was vomiting as they drove from their Lancaster home on Interstate 5 through Tustin on Friday night. Ufracio apparently parked the car along the right shoulder.

“I don’t remember anything,” Camarero said as she prepared to take her daughter from the hospital.

But piecing together Camarero’s vague recollection with information provided by California Highway Patrol officers, relatives said Sunday that they believe mother and daughter either were leaving the vehicle or that she was holding Vanessa out an open door on the right side when the motor home slammed into the car.

Vanessa and Alma “opened the door just as the trailer hit them,” said Rudy Gutierrez, one of Ufracio’s six brothers. “The only thing she knows (is that) Ufracio said he was parked along the side.”

Emergency crews found mother and daughter outside the Ford Thunderbird, which was demolished by the Winnebago before the motor home overturned, relatives said. Traffic on southbound Interstate 5 backed up for 5 miles as motorists slowed to gawk at the wreckage, a Highway Patrol spokesman said.

By Saturday morning, 6-month-old Ricardo Gutierrez was pronounced dead at UCI Medical Center and Ufracio Gutierrez was listed in serious condition.

The driver of the motor home, John Richard Warrington, 41, of Laguna Hills, was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving. After being treated for minor injuries, Warrington was taken to Orange County Jail. On Sunday, a jail spokesman said he was released after posting $10,000 bail.