Apple Valley man arrested in ATV hit-and-run that killed two children

An Apple Valley man suspected of a hit-and-run off-road vehicle crash that left two children dead has been arrested.

Edgar Ivan Galindo Diaz turned himself in to the California Highway Patrol’s Victorville office on Tuesday, the law enforcement agency said.

Jail records show Galindo, 35, was booked at 1:44 p.m. on suspicion of hit-and-run causing injury or death.

Christina “Tina” Bird, 11, and her friend Jacob Martinez, 12, were killed in the July 2 crash.

Tina and Jacob were celebrating the Fourth of July weekend with their families at an Inland Empire campground. They were riding a small ATV about 9 p.m. when they were struck on Stoddard Wells Road by a larger Polaris off-road vehicle, authorities said. The vehicle fled the scene after the crash.

A bystander found the children in the Stoddard Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area, the CHP said in a prior news release. The 53,000-acre recreation area is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Jacob was pronounced dead at the scene. Tina was found with multiple broken bones and a severed spinal cord.

She was taken to an area hospital by paramedics before being airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where she was declared brain-dead and removed from life support July 6.

Based on wreckage at the scene, investigators believed the suspect’s vehicle was a bright orange 2021 Polaris RZR Turbo S or Turbo S4, according to the CHP.

Investigators found a 2021 Polaris RZR at Galindo’s residence on the evening of July 7, and a warrant was issued for his arrest, the CHP said.

On a GoFundMe page for Tina organized by Ernie and Felicia Nunez, organizers said, “Tina has grown her pair of wings to join her Grandma and Grandpa in Heaven, where she is pain-free.”

Anyone with information regarding the deadly crash is asked to call CHP Officer Cesar Ramos at the Victorville office at (760) 241-1186.