Posted on 05/05/2007 8:34:25 AM PDT by TheDon
Lori Coble beamed as she posed for the camera with her husband and their three small children. Katie was still a baby, perched on Lori's hip. Kyle and Emma in matching white shirts, jeans and flip-flops grinned as they crowded on their dad Chris' lap.
"Kyle, Katie and Emma the crazy monkeys" as the Ladera Ranch family's Web site proclaimed. The kids grew up so fast.
The dream was abruptly shattered about 1:10 p.m. Friday when a big-rig slammed into the back of the family's 2006 Chrysler Town & Country minivan on the southbound Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway north of Oso Parkway.
The three Coble kids were in the back of the minivan, strapped into car seats and booster seats. Lori was driving. Grandmother Cynthia Maestri was in the front passenger seat.
Two-year-old Katie and 5-year-old Kyle were rushed to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo. Katie died just before 2 p.m. Four-year-old Emma died minutes later at Saddleback Memorial Hospital in Laguna Hills, California Highway Patrol officer Katrina Lundgren said.
....
CHP investigators spent hours questioning the driver, Jorge Miguel Romero, 37, of Apple Valley, who said he saw the traffic backed up, applied the brakes but couldn't stop in time.
Fontana-based leasing company Aurora TRL, which owns the truck, did not return calls for comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Dear God, I hope the parents somehow survive the loss of their beautiful adorable precious babies. The world has lost three wonderful kids who would have contributed greatly to all of us. Too sad.
Personally I think the big rig drivers in So. CA are some of the most patient, talented drivers in the world. They have to put up with cars pulling in front of them with drivers who have no concept of how difficult it is to stop one of those big rigs. This also leads me to believe that the driver of THIS rig was NOT driving the way he should have been on that freeway (one of the worst in So.CA) as he should have been prepared to stop at any second.
What a terrible, terrible thing to happen to this couple. Prayers for them.
He may or may not be illegal, but you certainly can't determine that from his name.
Prayers up for the comfort and healing of these parents. I cannot begin to imagine how awful this must be for them.
I had the same concerns. It will either make them stronger, or it will break them. I hope for the former.
Amen to that.
Surnames do not mean guilt any more than guns cause murder.
There are many with Anglo-Saxon and other surnames who are un-American.
And speaking of un-American, by their actions ye shall know them...so we can observe that Alberto Gonzales and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton and Cindy Sheehan and Dick Durbin and many others are in America—but America is not in them.
Having lived in So Cal for the last 35 years, I think I can at least question if Jorge is an illegal. I have read many articles of late with drunken Mexican illegal aliens killing Americans. If you want to blame someone for that, try the American people who have done little if anything to stop the massive inflow of illegals.
In regards to this accident, I don’t think it matters much if Jorge was illegal or not, everyone is subject to moments of inattention on the road, and often, we get away with it. Jorge was not so fortunate this time. He will spend the remainder of his days mourning his causing the deaths of these children in proportion to his conscience.
He is legal and has a clean driving record. 10 years ago he was convicted on drug charges, he did his time and cleaned up his life. The trucking company may have supplied him with an unsafe vehicle.
Nice Chrysler commercial. :(
To me, being hit from behind is the biggest danger on the road because in most cases like this busy freeway situation you can't really do anything to avoid it.
He’s gainfully employed by an American company. Why do you think he’s illegal?
Hell, half of Orange County is named Jorge these days.
Nothing is more important than the bottom line. Not even your soul.
No it isn't. Fake ID's are as common here as hamburgers at McDonalds. Once you get a fake ID and a fake Green Card you are home free here in Sunny California. If this guy came here legally, I'll eat my hat.
Most illegals are gainfully employed by American Companies. That is why the wage base is so depressed for semi-skilled and skilled labor. And FWIW most American Companies hire illegal aliens. And most illegal aliens who are employed by American Companies are carrying papers that say they are here legally. Fake Social Security cards and fake green cards are available on the streets in downtown LA.
How would the "critics of FR" know an individual's race who posts comments on threads like this?
“he could be here illegally... or he could be here legally and named after his father...”
Whether he was illegal or not I really don’t think he wanted to kill these people. This guy is going to be haunted by this the rest of his life.
We’ll see.
I will say I find the automatic assumption that anybody with an hispanic name in Southern California must be illegal to be unseemly, and yet another reason I don’t post on this forum very often anymore.
No, but when a hispanic man kills an American Family on the freeway (or even a family of illegal aliens), the odds are that the hispanic man is here illegally. That's just a statistical fact.
Why do you think hes illegal?
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The article did not say. Had he been legal with a name like Jorge the article would have said he was legal.
It's a land of 10,000 intersections. Intersections are most dangerous. Remember, if you get broadsided in an intersection on your driver door, you have approximately 5 inches or so of a hollow metal door protecting you. The energy and sideways forces are immense. On freeways, generally everyone is going the same direction. Intersections are a whole different, deadly animal.
The driver was proceeding too fast, following to close, and no doubt was not paying attention to traffic stopping ahead. Rear end collisions can be totally avoided by those causing them by keeping a safe distance, and paying attention.
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