Temple City man mourning wife and daughter after deadly crash

TEMPLE CITY, Calif. (KABC) -- Raymundo Argueta was in the car with his wife and daughter earlier this month when they were hit by a suspected DUI driver.

"What I saw, I wish I didn't see," said Argueta in tears. "What I heard was something I will never want to hear again. And I didn't care what happened to me. As long as they were OK."

Video from the Citizen App shows first responders on the scene. Argueta was injured with broken ribs, but his daughter Sabrina and wife Jennifer didn't make it.

"And now her and my daughter are gone, the two most beautiful things that I would want in my entire life, gone," he said.

We sat down with him at Longden Elementary School in Temple City, where his daughter had just started 5th grade. He said she loved going to school.

"One of the things she loved to do was come to the library. She loved to read," he said.

She got that from her mom, who was living her dream job as a librarian at the University of La Verne. She had just gotten a promotion before the crash.

"My wife was finally reaching her goal of being what she always wanted to be, a director of a library."

All he has left is his son. Both of them are trying to figure out where to go from here.

The community and school are rallying behind them, including Sabrina's 4th grade teacher from last school year.

"She loved to learn. She loved to share knowledge with others. I think one of the key things is, she was so kind and helpful. She was a friend to friends," said Terry-Ann Flinner, who also taught Sabrina's older brother when he attended the school.

Administrators are planning an event next week for some of the students to remember her.

"I think being able to express your thoughts, your love for someone like that and say hey, you mean something to me, we're gonna miss you, is very important to the students to go through the healing process," said Flinner.

Raymundo says it helps knowing the legacy his loved ones left behind.

"It just shows me that, that's how they are, that's how they always will be," he said with tears.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with funeral expenses and medical costs.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office identified the suspect in the crash as 27-year-old Diego Santoscruz. They allege Santoscruz was under the influence of alcohol around 1 p.m. on Aug. 17 when he crashed head-on into the car driven by Raymundo near the intersection of Temple City Boulevard and Gidley Street.

Santoscruz is facing murder, manslaughter and DUI charges and prosecutors are requesting bail of $4.2 million. Arraignment is scheduled for next month. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.