Teen Dies, 3 Others Injured After Hitting Mobile Home While Performing 'J' Turn
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - A teen is dead after a car smashed into a mobile home apparently while a teenage driver was doing a "J"-turn.
The car crashed into the vacant home on Potomac Street at approximately 8 p.m. on Sunday.
Aurora police say four people under the age of 17 were in the car when it smashed into the home. All had to be taken to the hospital but one passenger, identified as Noe Gonzalez, 13, died. The driver, identified as Monica Gonzalez, 16, is in critical condition. Monica and Noe Gonzalez were siblings from Aurora.
The other injured occupants were identified as Arturo Martinez and Luna Robles, 16. Martinez's age wasn't released. He has since been released from the hospital. Robles remains hospitalized with non-life threatening injures.
Police say they believe the driver was doing "J"-turns. That's when the driver yanks on the emergency brake a high rate of speed and the car spins 180 degrees.
"It's something that these kids see in movies such as 'Fast and Furious,' " Lt. Chuck DeShazer said. "Having kids drive beyond their capabilities and pushing cars to limits, that's not new. It has to do with the inexperience, and part of that that we all did as we grew up that we're invincible, and nothing's ever going to happen to us."
The mobile home has been unoccupied for at least the last three years. Police say the impact was strong enough to break the straps holding the mobile home in place. It was so powerful it shifted the home four feet off its concrete blocks.
"Slow down. That car is a bullet and you're ultimately responsible for where it lands," DeShazer said.
