A 37-year-old travel nurse Nicole Lorraine Linton has been charged with multiple counts of murder after a Los Angeles car crash killed a pregnant mother, her son and four other people, People magazine reports.
According to a press release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney, Nicole Lorraine Linton has been charged with six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, the People magazine revealed.
Authorities say Nicole Lorraine Linton was driving a gray Mercedes-Benz last Thursday when she ran a red light near a gas station in the Windsor Hills neighbourhood in Los Angeles and crashed into at least six vehicles. She was allegedly speeding.
The crash killed 23-year-old Asherey Ryan, who was pregnant, her infant son, Alonzo, and her boyfriend, 24-year-old Reynold Lester. Two other women in another vehicle were also killed, but their names have not been released.
According to the press release, several other people were hurt in the crash, including five people with minor injuries in an SUV and another driver in another vehicle.
Authorities are still piecing together what happened. “We do know that the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed as it traveled through the red light,” CHP officer Franco Pepi tells People magazine.
Several people were thrown from their vehicles, and three of the vehicles were engulfed in flames, Pepi confirms to People magazine.
Authorities say that serious criminal charges are appropriate for the case.
“Today, we begin the process of holding accountable the person responsible for the deaths of six people, including a pregnant woman, and their families,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “This is a case that will always be remembered for the senseless loss of so many innocent lives as they simply went about their daily routines.”
Nicole Lorraine Linton, a nurse from Houston, was arrested on Friday while she was hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries she sustained in the crash. After her discharge from the hospital, she was taken into custody Monday at the Lynwood Century Regional Detention Center. She is being held on $9 million bail.
Linton has not yet entered a plea. Online records do not reflect an attorney authorized to speak on her behalf.