Redwood City

Police Continue to Investigate Deadly Redwood City Crash

Two parents killed and several other people hospitalized following crash on El Camino Real

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The deadly car crash Friday night in Redwood City left two young girls without parents, family members tell NBC Bay Area.

Redwood City Police say the crash happened along El Camino Real at the intersection with Finger Avenue. Police confirmed two people died in this crash which involved a total of seven people in two separate cars.

While the San Mateo County Coroner's office has not formally identified those who were killed, Michael Ammen told NBC Bay Area and Telemundo 48 that his brother, Greg Ammen and Greg's wife Grace Spiridon were killed in this crash.

Ammen said that his brother and sister in law had their two 7-year-old daughters with them in the car during the crash. He said the two daughters were hospitalized with minor injuries and are expected to be released from the hospital Sunday.

Ammen said the family was driving home from a dinner when another car hit theirs, "going the other direction, pushed their car all the way down the sidewalk a couple hundred feet.” 

Now, Ammen's two nieces are left without parents.  

"As a parent, it's something you should never have to do, to tell children they no longer have parents,”  Ammen said. "I just hope there’s some kind of justice found and that we can continue to support the daughters."

Redwood City police said the 17-year-old driver of the other car and two passengers who were in that car were also taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Redwood City police also said Saturday night that "the cause of the crash is still under investigation and we won’t be releasing anything more about that at this time."

Multiple witnesses told NBC Bay Area that they saw cars speeding down El Camino Real and hit another vehicle.

NBC Bay Area also obtained surveillance video from a business across the street showing the deadly crash. A dark-colored car makes a left-hand turn from El Camino Real onto Finger Avenue when another car traveling down El Camino Real slams into it.

The video came from Alonso Flores' Legacy Repair auto shop across the street. Flores heard the crash happened and ran outside to see what happened.

Flores said he saw, “two vehicles on the side -- right on the sidewalk, one of the cars [was] kind of like smoking, and as a mechanic, I know that car’s about to catch on fire."

Flores said in the past couple of years he believes he's seen four crashes happen in this area -- with two of those crashes damaging his own vehicles.

"Especially in this area where traffic is really bad, people are like driving so fast," Flores said of El Camino Real. "Every time they are driving faster and faster, they use it as a highway when its not.” 

Flores wants local leaders to pay attention. He plans on bringing his concerns to future council meetings. For the time being, he and his families brought candles to the growing memorial for this crash on El Camino Real.

The victim's family has set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for memorial expenses.

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