12 Injured In 3-Vehicle Crash, 4 Children Not Wearing Seat Belts
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - Twelve people were rushed to the hospital after an accident in Aurora Sunday afternoon.
Three cars crashed at South Buckley Road and East Hampden Avenue at approximately 2 p.m. Police believe six people were not wearing a seat belt, including four children, one who is in critical condition.
The intersection was closed for hours as police tried to determine who was at fault. According to police, a Honda Civic with an adult and four children possibly ran a red light at the intersection when it collided with a silver Saturn with four occupants.
An adult female was ejected from the Saturn and is in critical condition. Police say she was not wearing a seat belt.
"I saw someone laying right here, then right like on the other side of that car there was another person laying down and they were unconscious, like they weren't talking or moving," said eyewitness Sara Turnbull.
The Saturn then struck a white Toyota that was stopped on northbound Buckley. The occupants of the Toyota were transported to the hospital as a precaution.
"And then over there, there was like three kids who got hurt … I heard one of them had a really bad gush in their head," Turnbull said.
"We have real issues about folks driving around with kids unrestrained. We had a fatal crash just in January where a 10-year-old girl was unrestrained and probably would have survived the crash had she been properly belted in," Sgt. Chris Carleton with the Aurora Police Traffic Division said.
"We have a lot of heartache with folks driving around without their kids being properly belted or restrained."
Luckily for Tom Hefferon, his pregnant daughter and his grandsons survived the collateral damage.
"Chaos, I mean there was a lot of emergency vehicles, fire trucks, ambulances," Hefferon said of the scene.
Police were trying to figure out who might've run a red light. As of Sunday evening, police said the two main drivers involved were pointing fingers at each other.
"Determining which vehicle had the right-of-way will be a focus of the investigation," Carleton said.
Neither alcohol nor speed are considered to be factors in the crash.