15 clowns killed in a California car accident

[Parliament 14,260]

I'm mean, how do you cram 28 normal people in one SUV?

 

At least 15 people have died from a crash between an SUV and a semi-truck in Southern California Tuesday morning, according to officials with the El Centro Regional Medical Center.

Hospital officials said they believe there were 28 passengers, including children, in the SUV...

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/multiple-fatalities-california-crash-highway-patrol/story?id=76203157

 

 

[TwiceHorn 31,495]

I see that you are unfamiliar with the motoring habits of our latin friends.

[Doc Sam Beckett 5,793]

Hilarious Parliament! 

[gsoda3 3,262]

ah geez those poor souls.  can you imagine how uncomfortable and near suffocating it would be having 28 people in an expedition?  

[Brothahorn 10,087]

Quote

the highway patrol said, adding that there were not enough seatbelts for 25 people.

That's why you upgrade to the Excursion.

[RPM 26,322]

31 minutes ago, Parliament said:

I'm mean, how do you cram 28 normal people in one SUV?

The Ford Expedition is surprisingly roomy. 

[usmc0331horn 953]

Were some riding on top?

[Dennis Taylor 18,830]

11 minutes ago, usmc0331horn said:

Were some riding on top?

Of other people,  yes 

[jeevsie 3,734]

Mongolia is in Southern California?

[Marfa Low Crown 2,546]

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I see that you are unfamiliar with the motoring habits of our latin friends.

It’s sobering to think we would all be speaking Spanish right now if Santa Ana had just brought a couple more Expeditions to the battle of the Alamo. 
 

[Richard Kimball 1,495]

2 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

ah geez those poor souls.  can you imagine how uncomfortable and near suffocating it would be having 28 people in an expedition?  

Don't have a story that good, but when I was with Austin Fire, made a wreck on I-35. Saw three people in the front seat of something like a Toyota Celica, and three in the back. I asked if everyone was okay, not knowing none of them spoke English. They all nodded okay. 

Turned out none of them understood me, some of them were hurt, and there were people behind the people in the back seat. Ten people in that car. Fortunately, nobody had life threatening injuries, but I felt like one of those magicians pulling scarves out of his sleeve. EMS was pissed. They kept having to bring more units. 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Richard Kimball

[Longhornstampede 3,184]

I guess you could say....somebody spilled the beans....EEEEYYAAAAAAGHHHH!

[futureman 22,473]

2 hours ago, Marfa Low Crown said:

It’s sobering to think we would all be speaking Spanish right now if Santa Ana had just brought a couple more Expeditions to the battle of the Alamo. 
 

the mexicans won the battle of the alamo. 

[Dennis Taylor 18,830]

7 minutes ago, futureman said:

the mexicans won the battle of the alamo. 

* San Jacinto 

[Marfa Low Crown 2,546]

21 minutes ago, futureman said:

the mexicans won the battle of the alamo. 

Whatever bro. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Marfa Low Crown
Dennis beat me to it

[High Plains Drifter 11,050]

 

Though perhaps not with as extreme a death count as this particular incident, this type of thing happened on a weekly basis when I lived in the RGV. I assume it still does.

[High Plains Drifter 11,050]

 

CHiPs: "It wasn't our fault!"

 

Quote

The highway patrol said the cause of the crash is not clear, adding that no law enforcement was involved in the incident.

There was no chase leading up to the crash, Watson said.

 

 

[HornsOverIthaca 2,333]

Damn, I had hoped someone actually killed 18 clowns.

[Guadaloopy 10,973]

[Orale 1,087]

These were 15 human beings. 15 human beings probably working for minimum wage if that 12 hours a day to make their families' lives a bit better.

[Kyle 207]

Let me guess ... no masks?

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

5 hours ago, Kyle said:

Let me guess ... no masks?

DAMMIT!!!!  More Covid related deaths !!!!

[MNLonghornFUKM 8,817]

I guess you could say....somebody spilled the beans....EEEEYYAAAAAAGHHHH!

Everything is X amount times funnier at 530 AM. I’m ashamed of you. You’re better than this. I hope my kids don’t wake up.

[Lat22 4,015]

8 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Though perhaps not with as extreme a death count as this particular incident, this type of thing happened on a weekly basis when I lived in the RGV. I assume it still does.

It does. 

[Deej 76,820]

6 hours ago, Orale said:

These were 15 human beings. 15 human beings probably working for minimum wage if that 12 hours a day to make their families' lives a bit better.

[Longhornstampede 3,184]

No I'm not. This is the Surl!😆😆

 

1 hour ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

You’re better than this. I hope my kids don’t wake up.

 

[GringoSalado 1,651]

Quote

"California Highway Patrol Chief Omar Watson told ABC News that it's "unfathomable" that 25 people were inside this one car. There was "major intrusive damage" to the vehicle, which only had a driver's seat and front passenger seat, he said. It wasn't clear why there weren't any backseats, he said."

Jesus fucking christ

[Pato del Muerto 52,512]

So with no backseats, were they in there like cordwood?

Interestingly, if there wouldn’t have been the intrusive damage, having no space to move would probably have been beneficial in a crash. Like they would all be each other’s already deployed airbags. 

[Sbbruin 21,858]

I am having difficulty reconciling the "clowns" comment, and that this is in "lulz."  

[TrashMaster G 17,559]

11 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

I am having difficulty reconciling the "clowns" comment, and that this is in "lulz."  

No shit.

[Orale 1,087]

I like irreverant humor. So if this funny to you, well ok. I just find it a bizarre event to find humorous myself.

[Hpara759 1,780]

 

[ButtFumble 5,180]

1 hour ago, Hpara759 said:

 

 

honestly when you see the lack of concern for anyone else and only the desire to get away in this video it really becomes harder to not just shrug and laugh at some of the above comments

I mean why am I suppose to give a shit more than those that were in the van (or in the SUV in the OP's story)

no one deserves to have that happen to them no matter what laws they were breaking or how much stupid shit they did to get in that situation, but the reality is in most of these cases those that can run, walk, limp, or crawl away are going to do so and not think twice about anyone in the vehicle with them or who they smashed in to (if they were in a chase like in the video)

 

 

[ButtFumble 5,180]

I know we all hate maths, but the payload on an Expedition is 1,800 pounds or so

with 28 people even if a lot were kids you are still probably looking at 4,200 pounds if the average weight was 150#

so about a ton and a quarter over weight and probably more than that and they probably had to modify the suspension to carry that much weight and not sag to the frame and they probably did a shit ass job on those modifications

[SimonBolivar 10,958]

Has there been any mention on the ages of the victims? I'm a recent addition the Mexican-American community (married in), but I've never seen a gathering of 20 Mexicans that was childless. Man what a terrible situation.

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3,868]

3 hours ago, ButtFumble said:

I know we all hate maths, but the payload on an Expedition is 1,800 pounds or so

with 28 people even if a lot were kids you are still probably looking at 4,200 pounds if the average weight was 150#

so about a ton and a quarter over weight and probably more than that and they probably had to modify the suspension to carry that much weight and not sag to the frame and they probably did a shit ass job on those modifications

That was my guess for cause when 28 was announced. 

 

[GringoSalado 1,651]

So 28 is the hard limit then?

[Gil Bang 25,972]

motherfuckers likely paid thousands to come up here and pick lettuce, and die a horrible death.  

So so sad

[TexasHooch 5,122]

Honest to God truth.... I was once one of eleven people stuffed in a 1993 Suzuki Samurai (with the top on).  I was visiting a friend at the University of Minnesota, It was -12 outside, and we didn't want to walk the 6 blocks to the bar.  Got pulled over by campus police.  Seeing the look on his face was worth the ticket (split ten ways).

[cabowabo 4,487]

 

[luke duke 6,413]

so about a ton and a quarter over weight and probably more than that

Like Vic’s bed frame at the end of a date.

[Superhero 8,830]

19 hours ago, Orale said:

These were 15 human beings. 15 human beings probably working for minimum wage if that 12 hours a day to make their families' lives a bit better.

And this is the correct response.

There are 15 families waiting to hear from their loved ones that they are okay; or are finding out that their husband / wife / son / daughter died a painful death in a foreign country.

These are people trying to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. 

[Brothahorn 10,087]

3 hours ago, GringoSalado said:

So 28 is the hard limit then?

56, if it's midgets

[washparkhorn 9,939]

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2021/03/03/13-killed-after-suv-crash-california-how-did-happen-why-were-there-27-people-suv-visual-explanation/6901993002/

Visual breakdown of the accident.

[ABSR 5,315]

11 hours ago, washparkhorn said:

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2021/03/03/13-killed-after-suv-crash-california-how-did-happen-why-were-there-27-people-suv-visual-explanation/6901993002/

Visual breakdown of the accident.

This is a horrible tragedy, but the article is written so it seems that somehow it is unknown who was at fault. 

The semi crashed into the Expedition's driver's side as the SUV crossed over the roadway, pushing it into the shoulder. The SUV did have a stop sign, but it is unknown who had right of way, or if it stopped before crossing the highway. The big rig did not have a stop sign.

So with an 18 wheeler driving down the highway and SUV at crossroad with stop sign it is pretty clear who has right of way.

[mininghorn88 2,293]

49 minutes ago, ABSR said:

This is a horrible tragedy, but the article is written so it seems that somehow it is unknown who was at fault. 

The semi crashed into the Expedition's driver's side as the SUV crossed over the roadway, pushing it into the shoulder. The SUV did have a stop sign, but it is unknown who had right of way, or if it stopped before crossing the highway. The big rig did not have a stop sign.

So with an 18 wheeler driving down the highway and SUV at crossroad with stop sign it is pretty clear who has right of way.

I read that as well and thought it was odd to make that comment.  Unless the paper is trying to make this a Cloak Room topic.

[Parliament 14,260]

Yeah that whole article is weird:

The two back seat rows of the Expedition had been removed to accommodate the large amount of people in the vehicle, and Waston indicated an insufficient amount of safety belts were made available to passengers.

[Dennis Taylor 18,830]

37 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Yeah that whole article is weird:

The two back seat rows of the Expedition had been removed to accommodate the large amount of people in the vehicle, and Waston indicated an insufficient amount of safety belts were made available to passengers.
 

[Foosters 17,858]

Quote

Yesenia Magali Melendrez Cardona told her father she wanted to follow in his footsteps.

He had made the trek from Guatemala to the U.S. 15 years earlier in search of a new life. In February, she left a job and her studies behind and headed north.

Chiquimulilla, the town where she had spent her 23 years, had been ravaged by the pandemic. Unemployment was rising. The population was desperate. The streets were too dangerous to walk at night.

On Tuesday, Yesenia found herself in a situation just as perilous as the one she had fled.

A maroon Ford Expedition bore a suspected smuggler and 24 people racing toward what they hoped would be safety. Yesenia and her mother, Verlyn Cardona, were wedged in the back when it drove through a breach in the fence separating Mexico from California.

It was broadsided by a semi hauling two empty trailers. It came to a stop, windshield shattered, at the intersection of Highway 115 and Norrish Road.

Seventeen passengers were ejected from the SUV. When Verlyn regained consciousness in the back of the crumpled vehicle, her daughter was sprawled across her legs.

Dead.

“El sueño Americano no se le cumplió,” said Yesenia’s father, Maynor Melendrez. She couldn’t reach the American dream.

Although the car’s occupants hailed from different cities and countries — from Guatemala to Mexico — they were united by the hope of a better life and the false promise, fed by rumors, that now, under a new U.S. administration, was the moment to reach for it.

Instead, 13 of the car’s 25 occupants were killed. Families were shattered. At least 10 of the dead were Mexican nationals. At least four women inside the car when it crashed were Guatemalan; two of them died.

Falsehoods have increasingly spread in Guatemala, claiming that with a new president and new policies the doors were open for anyone to cross into the U.S., said Tekandi Paniagua, Guatemala’s consul general in Los Angeles. In reality, he said, “the politics haven’t changed a lot.”

“Migrants come on a trip that is sold to them as an American dream,” Paniagua said. “But in reality, it’s an uncertain journey.”

Yesenia’s uncle, Rudy Dominguez, fled Guatemala first — 16 years ago.

Ahead of the trip, he said, he thought about the risks: the chance that he could be kidnapped, the possibility that he could be left to die in the desert. “These are decisions you make, where you ask yourself, ‘Do I die over there? Or do I die fighting for a dream?’”

When the pandemic hit, Dominguez said, the economy came crashing down. There were no jobs. Some people turned to theft and drug trafficking.

Yesenia had been in her fourth year at the University of San Carlos — where she was studying to be a lawyer — when she and her mother decided to leave. The young woman was being harassed and threatened, according to her uncle.

“It was an emergency decision,” Dominguez said. “There they threaten you and they kill you.”

Their journey began Feb. 2 and led them to Baja California, Mexico, where they stayed for about a week before getting into the Ford Expedition.

Yesenia was in one of two vehicles that would be caught on surveillance footage coming through a breach in the border fence near the Gordon’s Well exit off Interstate 8 in the predawn hours Tuesday. Normally, the 1997 Expedition would hold seven or eight people. But this one had just two seats, one for the driver, one for a front passenger. When it collided with the empty tractor-trailer at 6:15 a.m., 23 other men and women were jammed into the back.

“To have 25 people in that SUV, it’s unimaginable,” Dominguez said. “It’s inhumane.” David Kyle, a sociology professor at UC Davis and an expert on human smuggling, said, “It must have been hell in that SUV even before the crash.”

Eight people were still in the SUV when first responders arrived. Six were dead, the other two taken to a hospital.

Verlyn suffered a severe blow to her head that caused a cerebral hemorrhage. She’s since been released from the hospital. She doesn’t remember the accident. Only waking up and seeing her daughter dead.

“She always tried to give her daughter a better life,” Dominguez said. “Never imagining that the price she would pay would be this.”

The second vehicle seen crossing the border, a Chevy Suburban, was found engulfed in flames, its 19 occupants discovered hiding in the nearby brush and detained by Border Patrol agents.

Paniagua, the Guatemalan consul general, said he was concerned about the increased risks migrants are taking to come to the U.S., encouraged by smugglers who he said are misrepresenting the situation at the border.

The objective of Guatemalan officials, he said, “is to inform people of the reality that’s happening on the border so they can make the best decisions for their health and their life.”

“They don’t know if they’re going to go into a tractor-trailer, if they’re going to hide in the false bottom of a bus, if they’re going to hide in a truck with 25 people like what happened here,” Paniagua said. “We’re seeing the lives lost.”

At the start of the pandemic — with closed borders in Central America, fear about the virus and Trump’s harsh immigration policies — there seemed to be a drop in those migrating north, said Tiziano Breda, a Guatemala-based analyst for the International Crisis Group.

But as the pandemic has dragged on — and people have suffered the economic fallout — it has started pushing people to the U.S. once more.

“Unfortunately, accidents like these possibly won’t be the only ones,” Breda said.

Family members described Yesenia as friendly and loving. She was like a big sister to Dominguez’s daughter, who was six years younger. She loved to play soccer and had such an impact on her townspeople that they are organizing tributes ahead of her body being sent back, Dominguez said.

The last time Melendrez saw and hugged his daughter, she was 6. Although he was in another country, he said, the two remained in close contact.

Last year, Yesenia told him that she wanted to come to the U.S. He told her how difficult it’d be to get in and asked her to wait until he found a way. He didn’t know she and her mom were coming.

Melendrez, who lives in New York, learned the news of the accident from Dominguez.

“There are no words,” said Melendrez, who arrived in California on Wednesday night. “I couldn’t see her again, I couldn’t hug her.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-04/guatemalan-daughter-killed-in-suv-crash-near-border

Also failing to see the "lulz" here.

[TwiceHorn 31,495]

That is awful.  Incomprehensible.