The ICU nurse who killed six people – including a pregnant mother, her unborn child and one-year-old son – in a fiery 100 mph crash has been released from the hospital and is now held on $9 million bond.
Nicole L. Linton, 37, a nurse from Texas who works in Los Angeles, is being held in the Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood, California after being released from medical supervision on Sunday.
She is expected to be charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center on Monday.
She was taken into custody for vehicular manslaughter after police said she slammed her car into five other vehicles while driving as fast as 100 mph by an intersection at Windsor Hills.
PICUTED: Nicole L. Linton, 37, is being held on a $9million bond following the fatal car crash in Los Angeles. She is expected to appear at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center on Monday
Tabia Johnson, a witness to the crash, took a photo of the suspect, Nicole L. Linton (center), commenting that Linton only appeared to suffer minor injuries in the horrible crash
Linton can be seen here after the crash with blood on her left thigh and left forearm, she appears to be wearing hospital scrubs
An emergency medical worker directs Linton, who can be seen here sitting with a bloody arm
The mangled wreck of the Mercedes that Linton was speeding in is shown here after the crash. Linton survived the crash but six others died, including Asherey Ryan and her one-year-old son, Alonzo
PICTURED: Asherey Ryan, 23, died in the fiery crash with her one-year-old child and her unborn child. Tributes have poured in for the mother, who was expecting another child this year
One-year-old baby boy Alonzo (pictured) was also killed in the horrific collision between South La Brea Avenue and Slauson Avenue on Thursday afternoon
Eight-month pregnant Asherey Ryan, 23, was pronounced dead at the scene alongside her one-year-old child Alonzo Luchiano Quintero and her unborn baby boy following the horrible crash.
The unborn child’s father, Renald, was also killed in the crash after the car split in half immediately on impact, those close to the family confirmed.
Asherey, Renald, and little Alonzo were on their way to a doctor’s appointment for a pregnancy check-up when the ‘drunk’ driver smashed into the car they were traveling in.
Tabia Johnson, a witness to the crash, took a photo of Linton sitting down on a nearby sidewalk following the crash, with the burning aftermath visible in the background.
This is the horrific moment the Los Angeles driver Nicole L Linton sent the row of cars hurtling toward another gas station over the road before stopped just before the pumps
Skid marks are seen on the ground at the intersection as investigators on Thursday evening tried to work out what had happened
Graphic shows the direction the SUV was going in along South La Brea Avenue when it ran the red light and caused the horrendous crash
Johnson, who condemned the woman’s driving, said Linton only appeared to have suffered minor injuries, including bleeding near the head.
Linton is cooperating with investigators checking her bloodwork to see if she was under the influence when the fatal collision took place.
Stunning video of the crash show vehicles screeching across the street, bursting into flames, before finally coming to a stop in a mangled wreck just feet away from rows of highly flammable pumps.
A woman who identified herself as Linton’s friend, said she was ‘drunk’ and ‘fighting with her boyfriend’ before she got in her car and smashed into a traffic jam.
The gut-wrenching fatal pile up happened between South La Brea Avenue and Slauson Avenue on Thursday afternoon.
Eight people were left fighting for their lives with horrendous injuries following the devastating smash at 1:40 p.m. on Friday. Of those injured, six were teens and one suffered major injuries. The driver is one of those with injuries in hospital.
LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed and listed Asherey Ryan’s death, along with unborn ‘Baby Boy Ryan.’
Tributes have poured in for Asherey, who is believed to have been eight months pregnant, and her child after the devastating collision.
Asherey’s sister, Seana, who posted a message on Instagram about the incident, said she’s still shaken and heartbroken over the loss and condemned the driver who she said slammed into her brother-in-law’s car.
Tributes poured in for the mother after she was tragically killed in the violent collision. Her one-year old Alonzo was also pronounced dead at the scene
Mary Thompson prays as she brings a bouquet to the memorial site set after the crash which has taken six lives so far
The father of the unborn child Renald (right) also died in the deadly crash. He is pictured with Asherey
London Carter, with Southern Missionary Baptist Church, prays over a makeshift memorial across the street from where a fiery multi-car crash left pregnant Asherey Ryan and her one-year-old son dead
‘We’re looking for legal representation because this doesn’t make any sense,’ Seana said after reviewing videos of the crash.
‘Her taking my sister, my nephew, my brother-in-law, she took my son’s only cousin. We’re deeply hurt. We have to bury four people,’ she added, including the unborn child.
Alonzo’s father Luis Fernando Quintero wrote online: ‘I don’t have any words rn [right now] I’m too much in pain because this is something I never expected no one did I’m going to miss you both and I didn’t get to say goodbye or make up for time lost with you Alonzo my heart is aching may y’all rest in piece [peace] god has gained two amazing angels.’
The family have created a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs following the horrific ordeal.
Witness Veronica Esquival said that she was pumping gas when debris suddenly started flying through the air during the horrific smash – caused by the female driver, who was alone in the car.
The Mercedes races past a gas station then smashes into the side of a traffic jam, causing a flaming inferno in the Windsor Hills district
The Mercedes coupe can be seen speeding past the gas station toward the intersection before the sickening crash on Wednesday
She said that a baby tragically landed on the floor in the middle of the gas station before panicked workers tried to resuscitate the child.
She said: ‘I was about to pump gas and all of a sudden, I hear all of the noises from all of the collisions, and then the fire explosion and I saw things, metal and things flying in the air. So, I just covered myself behind the pump.
‘All of the sudden, a baby literally flew from the middle of the intersection to the middle of the gas station and landed right on the floor in front of me.
‘One of the workers came and saw me with the baby and took the baby out of my hands. Somebody tried to resuscitate the baby, but the baby was gone.’
One woman, who claims to be a friend of the Mercedes driver, said she believed she had been drinking after having an argument with her boyfriend before the deadly crash.
Linton was alone in the car, officials confirmed.
One woman claimed that the driver was her friend, and that she had been drinking after fighting with her boyfriend prior to the deadly crash
She told KTLA: ‘She was drinking and she was not aware that it was a red light because she shot straight through.’
Another heartbroken witness, Alphonso Word, who was just a few cars away from the intersection when the tragedy struck, said that the crash sounded ‘like a bomb.’
He said that the child was ‘ejected from the street’ as was the pregnant mother, who ‘landed over to the side.’
Devastating images show vehicles left burnt out after firefighters doused the huge flames caused by the crash – after an inferno made it look like ‘the whole intersection was on fire.’
The shocking footage, taken from a gas station overlooking the scene, starts as the Mercedes coupe races past the pumps at a blistering pace.
The doomed vehicle fails to break as it bears down on traffic flowing both ways across the packed intersection.
The shocking footage, taken from a gas station overlooking the scene, starts as the Mercedes coupe races past the pumps at blistering pace
The doomed vehicle fails to break as it bears down on the traffic flowing both ways across the packed intersection
It slams into the first car, which immediately bursts into a fireball before plowing through several others that spin from the huge impact. The crash sends them all hurtling towards another gas station across the intersection before finally coming to a stop in a crumpled mess.
The pile up came to a stop just before the second gas station over the road, which is considered an architectural icon.
Images show mangled, burnt-out vehicles splattered across the street in what was described by California Highway Patrol as looking ‘like a war zone.’
Debra Jackson, who was filling her car with gas, told CBSLA: ‘All of a sudden, I heard a big explosion and flames went over my whole car. I though my car was on fire.’
California Highway Patrol spokesman Franco Pepi said that ‘at least six or seven’ vehicles were involved – and three became engulfed in flames.
He added: ‘Just unknown reasons for the high speed at this time … Everyone needs to drive with more due regard because a lot of collisions happen, and this just happens to be at the top of the list of how bad they can get.’