Four killed in Merced County, including children -ages 2 and 9 - and a pregnant woman

The female passenger killed in the Merced County crash that also took three other lives was six months pregnant and wasn’t wearing a seat belt, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A single-vehicle traffic collision was reported to CHP at about 8:29 p.m. Sunday on eastbound Highway 152, west of Highway 33, according to a CHP news release. A 40-year-old man, 22-year-old women and two boys aged 9 and 2, all from Pomona, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The Merced County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office has identified the victims but was working to determine their relationships to one another, Undersheriff Jason Goins said Monday morning. Their identities will not be released until family has been notified.

The 40-year-old man was reported driving a 2017 Nissan Altima east on Highway 152 in the left lane between 65 and 75 mph when the car started moving side to side in the roadway, according to the release.

He lost control of the vehicle and it traveled into the right lane before turning to the north across the grass-dirt median and westbound lanes onto the north shoulder of the highway before smashing “broadside” into a tree, the release states.

The woman was the only occupant not wearing a seat belt, according to the release.

Neither alcohol nor drugs appear to have been a factor in the collision, the release states. Investigators also said the weather was not a factor in the collision but the cause remained under investigation Monday.

This story was originally published May 27, 2019 at 8:04 AM.