Hit-and-run crash in Lucerne Valley kills 3 girls, critically injures another

Four girls — two of them in wheelchairs — were struck in a hit-and-run crash on a rural Lucerne Valley road late Saturday, leaving three of the children dead and one critically injured, officials said.

The four pedestrians were in the north lane of Camp Rock Road, north of Rabbit Springs Road, around 10:20 p.m. when a pickup driving in the same direction struck the girls from behind, the California Highway Patrol said in a news release.

The driver and passenger of the truck, a 2002 white Chevrolet Silverado, fled the area on foot, the CHP said.

Three of the girls — Willow Sanchez, 11; Daytona Bronas, 12; and Sandra Mizer, 13 — died at the scene. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Coroner’s Division released their names and identified all as residents of the Lucerne Valley.

A fourth girl, who was not identified, was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where her condition was listed as critical.

The crash occurred in a remote desert area of western San Bernardino County. There is no sidewalk where the girls were traveling, CHP Officer Dan Olivas said.

“It’s pretty desolate out there, and there are hardly any shoulders at all,” he said.

No information about the people in the truck has been released, and it was unclear whether speed or drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash, officials said.