Summary
Investigators said the woman was holding the 3-month-old boy in her arms when the driver of the SUV lost control and slammed head-on into a semi-truck. The driver ran off and state troopers are still trying to find him.
Story Published: Jul 22, 2009 at 6:34 AM PST
Story Updated: Jul 22, 2009 at 12:49 PM PST
The 25-year-old mother from Sumas was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with internal injuries after the crash late Tuesday night on Highway 546.
"The child was wrapped up in the mother's arms, not in a child seat," said Washington State Patrol Trooper Keith Leary. "There was a child seat in the vehicle, in the back. It wasn't attached to anything, just kind of laying back there not being used."
The truck driver was not injured.
The man who was driving the SUV ran off and remains at large. Leary said a search by two Border Patrol helicopters and a Whatcom County sheriff's dog failed to find him.
Leary said the woman speaks an unfamiliar dialect of Spanish, which made it hard to communicate with her.
Troopers found empty beer bottles in the SUV.
"If the child seat was used, chances are this child may have survived," Leary said.
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