A podcast host, former MMA fighter, and all-around internet personality claims that he helped rescue the children trapped in a mangled car after their father intentionally drove them into an oncoming semi truck late last week.
Brendan Schaub, a 38-year-old UFC fighter, podcast host, and apparent cohort of the podcasting-giant Joe Rogan, says he was heading to a restaurant in Encino, California with his wife when he encountered a serious wreck involving a semi truck and an SUV – the same wreck intentionally caused by 31-year-old Cesar Iban Torres in an attempt to “give his family to god.”
“There’s a 6 or 7-year-old on top of the car [waving for help], yelling for help and I’m like, ‘Babe, that’s a fu–ing kid. She’s like, ‘Just keep going,’ and I’m like no, it’s a kid. Then he’s pointing down and there’s two other kids in the car,” Schaub claimed on his podcast, “The Fighter and the Kid.”
Schaub says he pulled over and rushed over to the children in the wrecked vehicle.
Hi, just saw your interview on TMZ, I was the women you handed the kids off to. Just wanted to thank you as well. It was such insane Situation to be apart of. 🙌🏻🙏🏻
— Rita Campos (@Rita1972) August 19, 2021
“The car’s all fu–ing mangled, and there’s one other guy there who’s on the scene, maybe it’s the truck driver, I’m not sure, but me and him are the first ones on the scene,” Schaub said. “There’s two kids and there’s a bigger kid and he keeps going, ‘I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die,’ and I go, ‘You’re not going to die, buddy, you’re not going to die.’ I tell the guy back up, so I grab the door but it’s mangled from the crash, so it’s intertwined with the car. So I break the window, we break some of the window out. It’s already broke, I’m not like fu–ing Captain America, so I’m pulling all the shattered glass and I take the kid through [the window].”
The mother of the children was killed in the crash,but the father and person responsible for the crash fled the car before eventually returning to the scene where he was tased, hog-tied, and arrested.
“In the front is a lady who passed away – brain matter everywhere, blood everywhere. And the kid’s going, ‘Mama, mama!’ I go, ‘Bubba, look at me. Look at me, don’t look over there,’” Schaub continued. “He was so young, it would’ve completely f*cked him up. I look at the guy and go, ‘Get a blanket, cover his mom.’
“A lady walks up. I don’t know where she came from. I go, ‘Take these two kids and run that way, run away from the car.’ She goes, ‘Well, I think it’s better to go that way.’ And I go, ‘Don’t go that way. Because the mom’s there, and they can’t see the mom. Go that way.’”
Schaub says that once he knew the children were safely removed from the vehicle, he walked back to his car and left the scene in order to get his wife away from a potentialy dangerous situation, People reports. Schaub also claims that Torres was running around shoeless on the highway and was struck by a car, but news reports of the incident do not include Torres being struck by a car.
“My father-in-law, CHP, I call him and tell him, I’m like, I was the first one on the scene but I didn’t stick around because it was so dangerous,” Schaub said. “Hopefully I don’t get in trouble for it but if you need any witnesses, I saw it all. And he goes, ‘Okay, well, keep me posted, they’re going to need your report,” reported OK Magazine.
It’s crazy! I’ve been getting text from friends about it but here’s a picture from where I was standing pic.twitter.com/kOrEVMTdfz
— Rita Campos (@Rita1972) August 19, 2021
Since then, screenshots of a message exchange with the official California Highway Patrol West Valley Instagram have circulated the internet, apparently confirming that Schaub has provided law enforcement with official statements regarding the incident.
Additionally, the woman Schaub apparently passed the children to has chimed in with her own picture of the incident, confirming that she and Schaub were both at the scene of the incident.
Since the accident, Torres has been taken into custody and is being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, according to ABC 7 News. Torres is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and is facing felony charges.
The GoFundMe for the surviving children has raised nearly $66,000 as of midday Thursday, August 19th.