Colorado family speaks after escaping fiery crash with Tesla driver; Driver identified
A family of six was trapped inside their car after a fiery crash Monday when a Tesla driver ran a red light and slammed into them at around 100 mph, police said.
Aurora police said a 26-year-old man was driving that Tesla on Alameda Parkway when he ran the red light at South Buckley Road and crashed into another vehicle. The Tesla burst into flames, and the driver later died of his injuries.
"The first thing that ran through my mind was that we were going to explode," said Gloria Fabela, who was in the front passenger seat. "My biggest instinct was to, first of all, release the smoke, and then get everyone out as fast as I can."
Fabela's 67-year-old mother was driving with her two small children, niece and nephew in the back.
"I crawled over, opened the door, pushed her out, then I got out to start pulling out the kids one by one," she said. "I was bleeding, and I couldn't see, but I felt in my heart we had to escape this."
Her 9-year-old daughter, Jahaleel, said she was terrified.
"I'm like, 'Mom, I can't move, I can't move,'" she said. "I was just screaming, and she was really scared, she was crying."
A good Samaritan stopped to help, letting the children sit in her car until an ambulance arrived.
"We make it to the hospital, and I go to the X-ray and found out I'm broken," Jahaleel said. "My arm and my leg's broken."
She suffered multiple fractures. Her little brother, Israel, has a fractured wrist and a sprained ankle.
Despite their injuries, the family expressed empathy for the driver who hit them.
"Maybe he was just going through something. We don't know what that person was thinking or what he was going through at the moment," Fabela said.
On Thursday, after the original publication of this story, the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office identified the driver as Rohan Biswas. Court records show Biswas has received five traffic tickets in Colorado since 2017, mostly for speeding and reckless driving. His latest ticket was issued about two weeks prior to Monday's crash in Denver for driving between 25 and 39 mph over the speed limit. He was scheduled to appear in court to be arraigned in that case next month.
But outside of Monday's crash, Fabela hopes her family's ordeal will lead to safety improvements in the neighborhood.
Just two months ago, she said, she was hit by a speeding driver about a block away.
"This is a community that this is happening to," she said. "I got in an accident there Jan. 21 in my car in the same area."
Aurora police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash, including an officer's decision to terminate the pursuit as the driver of the Tesla sped up. They have confirmed to CBS News Colorado, however, that the car was not stolen.
Fabela's mother and 11-year-old nephew are still in the hospital.
Whether it's increased police presence or a reduced speed limit, she said something must change.
"The outcome could've been much worse," Fabela said. "I thank God he's the one that saved us and protected us in that moment."
