Friends say driver in Salinas double fatal crash is in coma

UPDATE: 1/24/2018 12:20 p.m. The driver behind the wheel during a double fatal crash in Salinas is still in the hospital.

The accident occurred in the early morning hours of January 14 along Constitution Boulevard between Manchester and Independence.

22-year-old Yenny Carbajal and her 8 month old baby died when the BMW they were in struck a tree.

Friends told KION the 23-year-old male driver is in a coma.

Salinas Police said the crash is still under investigation and no formal charges have been filed.

SPD has yet to identify the driver. Investigators are looking for witnesses who may know what the family had been doing hours before the accident.

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1/15/2018 A 22-year old woman and her 8 month old baby boy were both killed after a solo car crash early Sunday morning.

Friends and family have identified the victims as Yenny and Joshua Carbajal. Strangers stopped by a makeshift memorial to pay their respects to the family.

“I couldn’t believe it, and until now I can’t absorb it, no,” said friend, Aide Villanueva. “She lived with me. I was with her when her child was born. She doesn’t have any family here, cousins, brothers, nothing. We adopted her as a sister.”

Yenny and her son were killed when a BMW they were in crashed along Constitution Boulevard between Manchester and Independence.

The driver, a 23 year old male is fighting for his life in the hospital.

“Investigation revealed that the vehicle appears to be traveling at a high rate of speed, it veered off the road somehow and into the tree, ejecting all of the occupants of the vehicle, two of the occupants the passenger, the female passenger and an eight-month-old child died as a result of injuries,” said Commander Vince Maiorana.

Items from the car were spread throughout the road. A baby blanket was in the grass as a sad reminder of who the victims were. Officers said speed was not the only factor in the accident.

“We think that probably the lack of the use of seatbelt was probably one of the reasons they were ejected, all of them were ejected from the car, up to and including the child safety seat not being properly fastened inside the vehicle. So this may be one factor along with the sobriety of the driver and maybe the speed of the vehicle driving on the road,” said Commander Maiorana.

At the base of the tree where the car hit sits a makeshift memorial with balloons, candles and flowers.

“I bought a Virgin Mary here that’s praying,” said Alberto Murrillo.

People who never knew them took a few minutes out of their day to remember them. One of them was Albert Murrillo who lives nearby and saw the crash scene.

“it’s devastating and I just can’t imagine something like that happening to me and my family and even anybody else’s family, anybody with kids,” said Murrillo.

While authorities investigate the crash, friends are trying to come to grips with the loss.

“The last thing you expect is for something to happen to someone you know. especially because of an irresponsibility, such as probably being drunk. It was so irresponsible to play with the lives of two people,” said Francisca Villanueva.

Police have not identified the driver. He is still in critical condition at the hospital. The victim’s family is all in Mexico. Friends started a GoFundMe page to raise money to bring their bodies home. Visit the page here: https://www.gofundme.com/50bi99c