BAKER — A 7-year-old boy died after being thrown from a car in an Interstate 15 crash on Sunday. Officers found that the boy was not wearing a seatbelt.

Christopher Hernandez was riding in the back seat of a 2000 Dodge Durango driven by his mother, Maria Salas, 38, of Las Vegas, heading north on I-15 just south of Baker at about 5:50 a.m., when Salas lost control of the vehicle, according to reports from the California Highway Patrol and the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department.

The Durango spun and then overturned in the desert on the side of the interstate, ejecting Hernandez. The boy was taken by ambulance to the Baker Airport to be airlifted to a hospital, but he was pronounced dead before he could be transported, according to the coroner’s report.

Salas sustained minor injuries in the crash. CHP Officer Taj Johnson said that pending the results of the CHP investigation, she could be charged with child endangerment.

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