windsor hills crash

‘Can't Believe We're Alive.' Survivor of Fiery Windsor Hills Crash Haunted by Flashbacks

"It was flames all over the place, bodies," Grace Ortiz said, after a Mercedes-Benz sedan was speeding at about 100 mph when the driver crashed into several cars at a South Los Angeles intersection.

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Grace Ortiz was in her silver SUV with her niece and her five children, including her 1-year-old son, when a speeding Mercedes barreled through the Windsor Hills intersection, plowing into multiple cars and killing six.

"It turned us around and as it was turning us around we see a big flame," she said. "I just can’t believe we are alive."

Reliving those terrifying moments are unbearable for Ortiz.

"My window was down and I kept hearing someone scream, 'the baby, the baby,' and I don’t know, I thought it was my baby," she said.

But the baby people were screaming about was 11-month-old Alonzo Quintero who Ortiz says was thrown from his family’s car. The little boy did not survive.

Courtesy of family
A pregnant woman, her fiance, and 11-month-old baby were all on their way to a doctor's appointment to check the health of the unborn baby when a Mercedes traveling incredibly fast slammed into their car and killed the whole family Thursday.

"I just feel so bad for the people who passed away. The two babies. They don’t deserve that for somebody so irresponsible," she said.

Ortiz says she and her family are having a hard time coping with what they experienced.

"It was flames all over the place, bodies. I don’t wish that upon anybody," she said.

Latricia Tucker was on her way home from work and was at the intersection of La Brea and Slauson when she saw the fireball.

"When I got out of my car, I seen people dead. Burnt up," she said.

She came back to the intersection Monday to pay her respects after learning that one of the unnamed victims was her friend.

"To find out that she was someone who was very close to my family is very devastating," Tucker said.

The crash has affected so many. The massive memorial is evidence of a community shaken and grieving.

But along with the pain and anger, many are asking why the driver of the Mercedes was going so fast.

A mother travelling with her five children and niece survived the fatal crash in Windsor Hills that left six people dead. As seen on air on Aug. 7, 2022.

The driver accused of causing the horrific wreck is a nurse from Texas. She was charged Monday with six counts of murder in a fiery crash at a Windsor Hills intersection that left six dead, including a pregnant woman and her baby, Los Angeles County prosecutors said.

Nicole Lorraine Linton, a 37-year-old registered nurse from Houston, also faces five counts of vehicular manslaughter in Thursday's crash and fire. She faces up to 90 years to life in prison.

Linton was released from Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center over the weekend and is now being held on $9 million bail at the Century Regional Detention Center, according to jail records. Her bail was initially set at $2 million and it is unclear why it was raised.

Security camera video showed the Mercedes-Benz, traveling at an estimated 100 mph in a 35 mph zone, slam into the side of a vehicle before flames erupt from the wreckage. The Mercedes-Benz was southbound on La Brea Avenue when it blew through a red light at the intersection.

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