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RIVERDALE — A Riverdale man watched helplessly as his wife and four young children perished Saturday night after he tried desperately to rescue them from a fiery two-car crash south of town, the California Highway Patrol said.
Coroner's investigators haven't confirmed the identities of the five victims. But a clerk at a Riverdale market identified the mother as Esmeralda Tafoya. A makeshift memorial apparently set up Sunday at the crash scene included flowers and a poster with photos of the mother and her children: Breanna, Jada, Nikko and Issac. The white poster read "We will miss you!" and "Gone but never ever forgotten."
The collision happened just after 7 p.m. Saturday as the 29-year-old mother was southbound on Marks Avenue crossing Excelsior Avenue in a 2003 Ford Expedition SUV.
The CHP said Juana Martinez Bejarano, 41, of Riverdale was westbound on Excelsior and driving about 60 mph in a 2004 Nissan Quest minivan when she did not stop for the stop sign at Marks.
The front of the Nissan slammed into the side of the Ford and both cars came to rest on the southwest corner of the intersection. The Ford burst into flames and the driver and four children -- ages 1, 3, 6 and 11 years -- perished at the scene.
The CHP said the father of the family, who was not identified, was following the Ford and saw the crash and the SUV catch fire. He tried to smash windows and pull his family from the burning Ford, and received minor burns to his hands, said CHP spokesman Axel Reyes.
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