A 5-year-old boy is fighting for his life in hospital after being the sole survivor of a horrific car crash in Rialto that killed four people, including his father and grandparents.
The fatal accident occurred on December 15, the day after Nathaniel Rodriguez turned 5 years old. The boy was in a car with his father, his father’s girlfriend, and his grandparents when, for unknown reasons, the car veered off the road and crashed into a tree stump. , will catch fire.
“It was very heartbreaking,” Rodriguez’s mother, Adriana Schrem, said. “It was so heartbreaking to know that my child was waking up with his whole face on fire.”
The boy is being treated in critical condition at UCI Medical Center with severe burns on half of his body. His injuries were so severe that both arms had to be amputated.
Colton Fire Department Battalion Chief Tom DeBellis recalled pulling the boy from the flames.
“You know, I heard a whining sound, kind of a warning that there was someone still in the car,” he said. “He was exposed to so much fire and heat and smoke that we wanted to get him to the hospital right away before something worse happened to him.”
Rodriguez has since undergone multiple surgeries, and doctors expect he will need more. Shrem said her son continues to fight for his life and will be by his side in hopes that he will be able to return home to Menifee soon.
“He gives me the most strength, because if he’s lying there, fighting for his life, why can’t I have the strength that he has?” she said. spoke.
