SandyMalonePittsburg, CA – A second toddler died on Saturday, from injuries sustained when a stolen pickup truck, running from police, crashed into her family’s vehicle on Jan. 17.
Camila Cardoza, 2, had been on life support at Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland after the crash that killed her four-year-old sister Lenexy Cardoza on Wednesday, according to the East Bay Times.
Their mother, Edith Ramirez, also was badly injured in the crash, but she underwent surgery and has since been released from the hospital.
Police said the driver of the pickup truck that struck the family’s vehicle was Noe Saucedo, a 23-year-old from Pittsburg.
The incident began when a sheriff’s deputy saw Saucedo driving a stolen white Ford F-250 pickup truck near Bailey Road in Bay Point around 12:47 p.m. on Wednesday, and followed it.
Before the deputy had even activated his police lights, Saucedo fled, and took off down an exit at full speed, KTVU reported.
At that point, the deputy turned on his lights, and Saucedo accelerated more.
Then he ran a red light, and struck the Cardoza family’s truck, a grey Ford F-150.
Contra Costa County Prosecutor Derek Butts said the high rate of speed, added to the fact that the defendant was running from police during the commission of a crime, added up to murder, not manslaughter.
The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office formally charged him with murder, felony evading, possessing a stolen vehicle, and possessing methamphetamine and heroin, The Epoch Times reported.
Additional charges were expected following the death of two-year-old Camila on Saturday.
For the first murder charge alone, he faced 15 years to life if convicted. He remains in jail with bail set at $1.1 million.