Mother Vows to Trudge Through East Bay Waters in Search of Baby

9-month-old was thrown from pickup into flood control channel

The search for a 9-month-old boy who was ejected from a pickup  truck Saturday night when it overturned into a flood control channel has been  suspended until further notice.

"We've exhausted all our resources at this point," Oakland Fire  Department spokesman Lt. David Brue said Tuesday.

Brue said authorities think fast-moving water may have swept the  baby, John Uaisele, a mile or more from the site of the accident.

He said a fire department search and rescue team "worked methodically" to try to find the boy Monday but didn't have any success.

Friends and family then took up the search for 9-month-old Johnny, who has been missing since a tragic car crash Saturday night.

The baby's mother hovered near the scene for much of the day Monday in what she said was an effort to bury her husband and son together.

"He was always smiling -- always laughing -- and when he wakes up in the morning I'm used to him waking me every time," said Mary Uaisele, the missing baby's mother. "It is kind of hard when you try to sleep, knowing your son should be next to you and he's not there."

Uiasele said she will never give up looking for her baby boy. He's been missing since the crash, when the truck he was riding in with his family crashed and flipped into an Oakland canal, killing his father and injuring his mother.

Search crews suspended their search Monday night due to darkness andfire department officials said they will decide whether to resume the search Tuesday.

The driver of the vehicle, Petelo Uaisele, 19, was killed.  Uaisele is the boy's father.

The baby appeared to have been thrown from the vehicle during the crash, investigators said.

Uaisele said her son was sitting next to her in a carseat.

"(The) first thing that came to my mind was 'My son -- I had to grab my son,'" Uaisele said. "I thought I grabbed a hold of his arm but when they pulled me out I didn't have him."

Uaisele and her family and friends braved the cold water to look for the baby. The fire department spent much of the day searching for the child, but had suspended its search.

An eight-member rescue team walked shoulder-to-shoulder through Damon Slough toward Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline.

"We do our best to find him no matter what nothing will stop us until we find him," said Una Havea, a family friend.

"I'm not going to lay down one day resting without looking for my son," said Uaisele. "I'm going to be searching everywhere."

Uaisele and her 21-month-old daughter survived the crash. She said her husband tried to save the family after the crash.

"I know he (Uaisele's husband) was trying to unbuckle my son and get him free and stuff," she said. "He's my hero. He's the type of guy -- he put his family first before himself."

The Saturday crash appears to have happened when a limousine bumped the rear of the pickup truck, causing Uaisele to lose control.

The vehicle rolled into a nearby canal and landed on its roof in 3-foot-deep water, said Lt. David Brue of the Oakland Fire Department.

Uaisele said she won't have a funeral for her husband until she finds her baby.

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