Girl, 5, fighting to recover after big rig crash in Southern California

A 5-year-old girl faces an uncertain future after suffering two skull fractures during a six-vehicle collision involving a semi-truck in San Bernardino County late last week.

The violent crash occurred June 20 around 12:30 a.m. at the intersection of Highway 395 and Calleja Road in Adelanto.

Authorities with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said multiple people suffered injuries, including the young girl, later identified by family members as Dalilah Coleman, who was airlifted to the hospital.

The 5-year-old and her mother’s ex, who was driving, were on their way to visit her stepsister when the crash occurred, leaving them both with serious injuries.

“He said the last thing he remembers is he looked up in the back and he seen headlights coming at him really fast,” Dalilah’s father, Marcus Coleman, told KTLA’s Shelby Nelson. “He was trying to process it and it was too late.”

Coleman says the driver of the semi-truck rammed the vehicle his daughter was in, setting off the six-vehicle collision, while traffic was stopped in the area because of construction.

Dalilah was left with a fractured skull and a broken leg among other injuries. The young girl, whose father described her as someone constantly smiling and trying to make you happy, is now in Loma Linda Children’s Hospital where she remains heavily sedated.

Coleman, who also drives a big rig, said witnesses to the accident told him that the driver of the semi-truck may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

“There’s no reason for her to be up there,” he said. “For his negligence, my daughter is the one that suffered.”

The sheriff’s department is investigating the cause of the crash, a SBSD spokesperson telling KTLA that they have not yet determined who exactly was at fault or if the driver of the semi-truck had indeed fallen asleep behind the wheel.

Coleman said he’s also frustrated with the lack of answers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, saying it wasn’t until today, nearly a week after the crash, that authorities finally reached out to him.

As for young Dalilah, she will face a very long road to recovery.

“She’s going to need neurological therapy and rehab, physical therapy. She’s also going to need a helmet,” Coleman explained. “Her whole childhood got derailed.

A GoFundMe has been organized by family to help with the cost of Dalilah’s recovery.

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