{"id":56427,"date":"2014-10-02T08:30:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T15:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=56427"},"modified":"2014-10-02T12:56:48","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T19:56:48","slug":"online-fundraiser-for-man-killed-in-fiery-palmdale-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2014\/10\/02\/online-fundraiser-for-man-killed-in-fiery-palmdale-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Family mourns man killed in fiery Palmdale crash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel (center) was an amazing person who worked hard, according to his cousin, Joseph Morales (right). Daniel Orellana Sr. (left) saw his son’s burning vehicle shortly after the collision. (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel was in the ROTC program at Van Nuys High School. (Contributed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 Family members have established an online fundraiser for Daniel Orellana<\/strong>, the man killed Saturday when his car burst into flames after it was rear-ended by an alleged drunk driver.<\/p>\n

The money raised will go directly to Daniel\u2019s parents to help with his memorial expenses and to ease their financial burden in this dark time, according to Daniel\u2019s cousin, Joseph Morales, who created the fundraising page.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Daniel] was an amazing young man, he worked hard and didn\u2019t drink or smoke,\u201d Joseph Morales said. \u201cHe was such a good kid and he had his whole life ahead of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

To donate to this effort, visit http:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f9zu3g<\/a>.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Daniel's<\/a>
Daniel’s car burst into flames after it was rear-ended by an alleged drunk driver on Avenue S at Sierra Highway. (LUIS MEZA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Daniel, 21, died inside his burning Mitsubishi Eclipse in the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 27. The car burst into flames after it was rear-ended by a Mitsubishi Lancer at the intersection of Avenue S and Sierra Highway in Palmdale, Sheriff\u2019s officials said.<\/p>\n

The Lancer\u2019s driver, 23-year-old Jeffrey Brooks,<\/strong> was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, and alcohol is believed to be a factor in the collision, Sheriff\u2019s officials said.<\/p>\n

\"Jeffrey<\/a>
Jeffrey Brooks, 23, of Lancaster was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter. (LUIS MEZA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brooks bailed out of jail a day after the fatal crash, and no charges have yet been filed in connection with the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Jeffrey Brooks] should just man up and accept what he did, take responsibility for taking a life and being drunk,\u201d Joseph Morales said.<\/p>\n

At the time of the crash, Daniel had been driving home from his security job in Burbank.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would get off work at 3 in the morning, and then he would have to drive from [Burbank] all the way to Palmdale,\u201d Joseph Morales said. Daniel\u2019s father was worried when his son didn\u2019t make it home or call, so he went out looking for his son and saw the burning car, Joseph Morales said, adding that the collision scene was \u201cright down the street\u201d from Daniel\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told the sheriffs, \u2018my son drives a car like that,\u2019 but they sent him home; and at 11 [a.m.], they brought Daniel\u2019s wallet and said it was found in the car,\u201d Joseph Morales said. \u201cWhere he was sitting didn\u2019t burn as bad so they were able to retrieve the wallet from his back pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Family<\/a>
Family members are asking for prayers during this difficult time. (Contributed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Daniel, who would have been 22 on Nov. 19, was attending\u00a0Antelope Valley College as well as working. The Van Nuys High School graduate had moved to Palmdale with his parents about two years ago, his cousin said.<\/p>\n

Family members have gathered at the Palmdale home to console Daniel\u2019s parents, who are still unable to claim their son\u2019s body, Joseph Morales said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have him down as a John Doe because his body was burned so bad they couldn\u2019t identify him,\u201d Joseph Morales said. \u201cThey’re trying to do dental records, and if they can\u2019t identify him with that, they\u2019re going to do DNA\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like people to just pray for him and his parents; what the family needs right now is prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/span>: The body of Daniel Orellana has now been identified through dental records, and his family will be\u00a0able to claim his body\u00a0at\u00a0noon on Thursday, Oct. 2.<\/strong><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Previous related story<\/span>: 1 dead, 1 arrested after fiery rear-end crash in Palmdale <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 Family members have established an online fundraiser for Daniel Orellana, the man killed Saturday when his car burst into flames after it was rear-ended by an alleged drunk driver. The money raised will go directly to Daniel\u2019s parents to help with his memorial expenses and to ease their financial burden in this dark […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":56430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56427"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}