PA Survivor Recalls Crash That Killed Father, 4 Daughters

The Pennsylvania man who was involved in a crash that killed a New Jersey father and his four daughters returning from vacation last week is recalling the harrowing moments leading up to and immediately after the crash.

The crash happened Friday afternoon on Rt. 1 in Townsend, Del., after a Ford F-350 pickup crossed the grassy center median, hitting two cars and killing five members of a family from Teaneck, N.J.

Brian C. Kern of Bethlehem, 24, was hit first by the pickup truck, which went on to hit the minivan.

Kern said the aftermath "looked like a war scene," according to reports. He told 6ABC that in the seconds leading up to the crash, he saw the pickup truck "wildly swerving" in the median. It traveled through the grass and he thought it was going to hit him head-on.

“I made a right turn maneuver. How hard I turned I’m not sure. It was a split-second decision," Kern said during an interview with The Morning Call. After the crash, he experienced a rush of emotions, he told that publication. “I thought I was dead or in a coma. I thought I had to decide now between heaven and hell.”

Kern, who was returning from a trip to Virginia Beach, was transported to a local hospital and has since been released.

Killed in the crash was Audie Marquez Trinidad, 61, along with his four daughters: Kaitlyn, 20; Danna, 17; and 13-year-old twins, Melissa and Allison. None of the daughters were wearing seat belts; they were all pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

The 53-year-old mother, Mary Rose Ballocanag, who was wearing a seat belt in the front passenger seat, was transported to a local area hospital in Delaware where she was admitted with serious injuries, authorities said. She was last reported to be in stable condition.

Ballocanag was reportedly sleeping in the front seat when the crash occurred as the family traveled home from a vacation in Ocean City, Maryland.

The driver of the Ford has been identified as 44-year-old Alvin S. Hubbard Jr. of East New Market, Md. Hubbard was transported to an area hospital, where he was treated and released with non-life threatening injuries, police said. He was wearing a seat belt, and it is unknown at this time if driver impairment was a factor.

Hubbard's passenger, a 30-year-old man from Hurlock, Md., was wearing a seat belt and was also transported to a local area hospital where he was treated and released with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

The crash remains under investigation by the Delaware State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit.

No charges have been filed as of noon on Tuesday.

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Photo courtesy of Brent Zachary Lewis: Audi Trinidad and his four daughters, Danna, Kaitlyn, Allison and Melissa. The mother, Mary Ballocanag (center), was hospitalized.