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Baby on mom's lap killed in US collision

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-23 09:14

LYNDEN, Washington: Authorities sought a driver Wednesday who fled on foot after his Ford Explorer crossed a center line and crashed into a semi-truck, killing a 2-month-old baby in the sport utility vehicle who was being held in his mother's lap.

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A search by helicopters and a sheriff's dog didn't find the man after Tuesday night's wreck on Highway 546. On Wednesday, authorities said they were seeking Hugo Mendoza Lopez, 23, of Lynden, for questioning and that he may have been the driver.

"The person who first arrived on the scene saw this baby...was kind of traumatized, and didn't get an accurate description (of the driver)," Washington State Patrol Trooper Keith Leary said.

Leary said empty beer bottles were found in the SUV.

The mother, Luciana Garcia Silva, 25, was hospitalized with internal injuries. The truck's driver wasn't injured.

The mother reportedly speaks Mixteco, an indigenous language spoken in Mexico, and that investigators were having trouble finding an interpreter, Leary said.