3-year-old dies after suspected DUI crash in Bay Area; 2 young siblings, mother injured

SAN RAMON, Calif. -- A 3-year-old boy who was rushed to a Bay Area hospital has died after a violent crash on Interstate 680 in San Ramon on Friday night. The child's two young siblings and their mother were rushed to the emergency room on the ground.

The crash happened just before 6:30 p.m. when an SUV rear-ended a sedan that was stopped on the freeway's northbound shoulder near Bollinger Canyon Road.

The California Highway Patrol took the driver of the SUV, Yarenit Liliana Malihan of Pleasanton, into custody. The 39-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of DUI and gross vehicular manslaughter, the agency said.

The arrest came after the family was informed that young Elijah Dunn died after being transported to the hospital.

Paramedics airlifted the toddler after he was pulled from the mangled wreckage of his mother's car. His age was initially given as 4.

Dunn's grandfather told KGO-TV the boy was seated in the rear on the driver's side of a Toyota Camry as the family waited alongside I-680 for gas.

Dunn's mother had pulled over on the right-hand side of the roadway near an exit.

Around 6:20 p.m., the CHP received the call that a white Toyota Sequoia had slammed into the back of the stalled car.

Paramedics transported the two other children in the car to Children's Hospital Oakland. Their grandfather said the 12-year-old boy and a nearly 2-year-old girl were OK.

The mother was being treated at John Muir Medical Center. Her family said she suffered a broken back, ribs, and other severe injuries.

Malihan, the driver of the SUV, was also transported to a hospital. Her condition was unknown.

Investigators concluded the small children in the Camry were each secured to a child safety seat and all the victims were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash, CHP officials said.