Police: Dad & two teens were drinking before SUV/train wreck

Shocking new details about a man who crashed his car into an expo line train recently. Police say he'd been drinking and here's the shocking part they say his underage kids in the car were drinking too!

A 16-year-old boy remains in critical condition at UCLA Medical Center after a crash last week that left him with serious head injuries.

It was last Wednesday - 12:30 in the morning - a car into an EXPO Line train at Colorado and Lincoln.

Rescuers could be seen using the jaws of life to pull three people from the wreckage. In daylight... it's easy to see that there are no crossing bars here, but police say that wasn't the problem. They say the driver - 54 year old Antonio Beltran -- allegedly had too much to drink.

Over three times the legal limit and, Lt. Saul Rodriguez says, Beltran's teens were drinking too. He tells FOX 11 News, "There was indicators that all three had been drinking including the two passengers - the teenage children - and also the father being the driver."

If the DUI wasn't bad enough the two teens are 16. Being minors they should not have been drinking at all.

Rodriguez adds, "In my career, 23 year, I've seen some bad collisions... but I've never seen one where you have a driver, being the father, who had been drinking cause the collision and you had to potential for what we're dealing with now."

The three were apparently visiting here from New England. Beltran and one of the boys from Connecticut. Another teen from Rhode Island. Beltran has a history according to The Day newspaper from New London, Connecticut. The paper says he was a former tribal council member and, in 2013, was appointed chief of staff for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. About what happened in Santa Monica last week, The tribe's communication's director, Lori Potter, told TheDay.com "Although we regret learning of the tragic accident in southern California last week involving three of our family members, we are grateful they're alive,"

The paper says Beltran has something else in his past… quoting here:

"In 2000, Beltran," they say, "he was charged with speeding and drunken driving in Norwich Connecticut. The previous year, he was arrested on multiple motor vehicle charges following his alleged involvement in two hit-and-run accidents."

His criminal record includes a felony conviction for the 1980 stabbing of a youth in Southern California. He served a four-year prison term.

Now, police in Santa Monica say he faces charges of driving under the influence and child endangerment. He's being held on bail of $400,000.

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