SACRAMENTO – A Sacramento-area family was headed to a Super Bowl watch party on Sunday when their lives changed forever.
“I feel like I’m in shock, I can’t believe it,” said mother Yari Quirarte.
Quirarte was driving her two children to Sacramento on Highway 50 when she blew a tire in the fast lane. Unable to get over or get off the freeway, she had to bring her car to a stop in the fast lane with her hazards on.
“I didn’t know what to do, I was just so scared,” said Quirarte.
It happened near the 65th Street exit along westbound Highway 50.
After several near misses, she became worried a car would slam into hers with the two young children inside. Thinking she was keeping them safe, she moved the kids to the center median of the freeway, past a concrete barrier, which is currently a construction zone dividing Highway 50’s eastbound and westbound lanes.
No construction was ongoing and there was a gap in the divider for work vehicles to enter the center median.
“That’s why I took my kids out because I thought that middle piece was safe,” said Quirarte.