What was supposed to be the start of one family’s Christmas celebration ended in tragedy early Monday morning when a Twentynine Palms Marine driving his family to the airport was struck and killed on the 10 Freeway, just west of Mountain View Avenue in Loma Linda, after stopping to help a driver in a rollover crash. Staff Sergeant Enrico Antonio Rojo, a Reservist with 4th Tank Battalion, who works as a combat tank repairer at the Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, pulled over to help a woman who had collided with a tractor-trailer, flipping her vehicle onto its roof. The driver he stopped to help, Crystal Adrianna Martinez, 22, of Loma Linda, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to the CHP. Just after 1:30 a.m., CHP authorities received reports that a vehicle was on its roof in the westbound lanes at Mountain View Avenue. A short time later, reports went out a man had been struck by a passing 2017 Hyundai Sonata. That man was later identified as Staff Sergeant Rojo, 29, of Ontario, according to the San Bernardino County Coroner. Paramedics were called to the scene and found CHP officers performing CPR on Rojo; he was later pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Sonata stopped and cooperated with the investigation. All westbound lanes of the freeway were shut down, and traffic was diverted onto California Street in Redlands for at least four hours.
