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Grandmother Crashes Into Home, Boy Dies

CHP: Woman Driving On Suspended License

POSTED: Tuesday, October 14, 2008
UPDATED: 4:04 pm CDT October 15, 2008

A 5-year-old boy is dead and a woman is in critical condition after their car crashed into a home Tuesday, officials said.

Joni Kelly was driving with her grandson, Alexander Martinez, on her lap when she drove the car into a wall of a home, officials said.

Both Alexander and Kelly were brought to Mercy San Juan Hospital where Martinez was pronounced dead at soon after arrival, officials said.

Family members said they were appalled.

"He should have never been in her lap," said Norma Martinez, Alexander's other grandmother. "If he'd been in the back seat where he belonged this probably never would have happened. As far as I am concerned, she killed him."

The wall that Kelly hit was 40 feet from the street.

There was not car seat in the 1996 Toyota Camry, police said, and Kelly was not wearing a seat belt.

The airbags were deployed in the car after the crash.

California Highway Patrol took a blood sample from Martinez, but officials said they do not think drugs or alcohol was involved.

California Highway Patrol officer Liz Dutton said the incident is a reminder that it is never safe to have a child in the front seat, especially sitting in the driver's lap.

"You always need to be careful with them and watch out for their safety, because you are the only one who can do that for them," Dutton said.

Kelley was driving on a suspended drivers' license at the time of the crash, the CHP said.
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