Major Heckenberg crash update: Fresh arrests over car accident that killed brother and sister aged 15 and 24
Police have made new arrests over a car accident that killed two siblings. Detectives have taken a man and a woman into custody.
Alina Kauffman, 24, was picking up her brother Ernesto Salazer, 15, from work when they were hit by an allegedly stolen car in Heckenberg, south-west Sydney at around 9:20pm Friday.
The siblings were just yards from their home when a Mercedes plowed their vehicle into a stationary Toyota Rav 4, flipping their Toyota Echo onto its side and killing them instantly.
The accused Mercedes driver Johnson Kokozian, 20, has been hit with several charges over the accident and remains in police custody.
Police will claim the young father was driving with an invalid license when he hit the pair before running off and leaving them to die.
Alina Kauffman, 24, and her Ernesto Salazer, 15 (pictured together) were killed in a fatal car accident last week
Police have detained another man and a woman as they investigate the accident
Now detectives have made a breakthrough in the case: officers have arrested a man who was allegedly a passenger in the Mercedes.
Images show that the man arrives at a police station in the back of a patrol vehicle on Wednesday.
He is not expected to be charged in the crash, but police will claim he deliberately withheld information to protect Kokozian.
Kokozian’s girlfriend has also been taken into custody and is expected to be charged as an accomplice.
The arrests come as Kokozian is due to appear in Liverpool local court on Wednesday, charged with two counts of failure to stop and assist after colliding with a vehicle resulting in death, two counts of dangerous driving resulting in death , negligent driving resulting in death, and operating a vehicle during a traffic accident. disqualification period.
The siblings’ mother, Angelina Kauffman, has pledged to attend the hearing.
Police believe there were three people in the Mercedes at the time of the accident, including the driver.
However, none of the passengers will face any charges under Good Samaritan laws that require only the driver of a car to stop or report a car accident.
The driver of the Toyota Echo (pictured), Alina Kauffman, 24, and her 15-year-old brother Ernesto Salazer, were treated at the scene by paramedics but could not be rescued
Police have charged Johnson Kokozian (pictured) over the crash. The 20-year-old denies that he was behind the wheel of the Mercedes
Mrs. Kauffman was horrified by the actions of the passengers of the Mercedes who allegedly left her children to die.
“They just ran off and left them, like they’re nothing,” Ms Kauffman told 7News.
She also criticized those who decided to take footage of the crash with their smartphones instead of helping her children, saying “help, do something.”
The lack of charges prompted the state’s Deputy Prime Minister, Prue Car, to state at a news conference, “If there are holes in the law, we’re open to looking into that.”
Lawyer Paul McGirr hit back at all plans to expand Good Samaritan laws and force the public to act in times of crisis.
“It depends on what they know, what they saw and what mindset they have at the time,” he said.
“Making it a law that someone has to do something, that’s the gray area.”
Some 150 people gathered on Sunday evening to pay tribute to the brother and sister.
During the vigil, mourners were seen placing cards, flowers and toys at the scene of the roadside accident.
Ms. Kauffman’s mother burst into tears after returning to the crash site on Saturday.
Alina Kauffman, 24, was killed in an accident Friday night
Ernesto Kauffman, 15, is depicted as the family’s pet
She paid a poignant tribute to her children, describing them as “good people” who wanted to make a difference.
“My babies, they took them from me, my babies,” Ms. Kauffman said.
‘My kids went to help people, my kids wanted to make a difference in this world, my kids were good people.
“My daughter, she is such a beautiful girl, she loves her brother and my son, he loves his sister.
‘Now my son is gone and my daughter she is gone. My children are gone and I have to live without children for the rest of my life. Why? I do not understand.’
Ms. Kauffman said Alina was a dedicated nursing student with a kind heart, while Ernesto was an animal lover who worked at K-mart to save for his first car.
She explained that her daughter had picked up her son from his new job at Kmart and the couple were almost home when they were hit by a car.
“Alina called me and said, ‘Mommy, I picked up my brother, we’re going to get some food and then we’ll come home,'” Ms. Kauffman said.
‘I said ‘are you okay’ and they said ‘yes mom’.’
A vigil was held (pictured) for the brother and sister who died in a horror crash when an allegedly stolen Mercedes crashed into their car just yards away from their home in Heckenberg.
Not hearing from them for 20 minutes, Ms. Kauffman and her other child traced their location via social media.
The distraught mother said she arrived at the scene just minutes after the crash.
Officers arrested 20-year-old Johnson Kokozian after he turned himself in to Liverpool police station on Saturday.
Kokozian denies being behind the wheel but was charged over the crash and refused bail at Parramatta Court on Sunday.
Kokozian allegedly filmed himself eating KFC in the hours before turning himself in to police.
The Mercedes was reported stolen by Kokozian’s father after police visited his address about an hour after the crash.
Police are also looking for the person who filmed the accident victims dying in the car before sharing it on social media.
On Sunday, a six-second video circulated online of the moments after the crash, showing the two siblings trapped in the wreckage.