Baby taken to hospital after downtown Modesto crash

A 7-month-old girl was transported to a hospital to be examined after her child safety seat was launched forward inside a white Chevy Trailblazer during a crash at 14th and I streets in downtown Modesto.

The baby had no visible injuries, Modesto police Sgt. Gary Crawford said at the scene. People quickly on the scene reported the car seat had come out of the vehicle, he said, but a passenger in the Trailblazer said the seat and the baby remained inside it.

The baby was secured in the safety seat, Crawford said, but the seat was not buckled into the Trailblazer’s seat belts as it should have been.

Roxanna Cerda, who was a passenger in the Trailblazer with the 7-month-old and the baby’s mother, 20-year-old Jessica Reyes, said the child did not lose consciousness but was “crying and crying – she couldn’t stop.” Cerda and Reyes were uninjured, and Cerda left the scene in the ambulance with her daughter.

The crash occurred shortly after 11 a.m. Both vehicles had the green light on 14th Street. Samantha Borba, 23, was driving southeast through the intersection in a black Chevy Blazer. Cerda was going northwest and making a left turn onto I.

Borba said she tried to brake but already was into the intersection when the other driver “gunned it” in an attempt to make the turn. Borba said that other than abrasions from her air bag, she was unhurt.

Crawford said this type of accident is all too common and that drivers making turns need to understand they do not have the right of way.

This story was originally published June 4, 2015 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Baby taken to hospital after downtown Modesto crash."