RINCON —— The driver of an out-of-control tractor-trailer that crashed head-on into a van last November on Highway 76, killing three people, won't face criminal charges, authorities said Thursday.

Camille Merced Zulewski, 52, of Temecula; her 6-year-old son, Michael Zulewski, and her sister, Adelle Rose Woods, 47, of Riverside, died in the Nov. 19 crash east of Valley Center Road. Three other girls in the van, ages 4, 10 and 11, survived.

Bryant Patrick Rooney, then 34, of Riverside was driving the fast-moving Mack truck hauling two trailers loaded with 25,000 pounds of gypsum rock when it hit the van, but the truck's brakes had overheated and he couldn't stop the big rig, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Scott Payson said Thursday.

"We came to the conclusion this week there will be no charges against the driver," Payson said. "Based on what we had to prove in court, we couldn't prove it."

He said the Highway Patrol had recommended misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges against Rooney when the case was first sent to the San Diego County district attorney's office for review.

However, Payson said, it was "a very difficult decision," but the truck's brakes had worked all day, the total weight of truck and load was 20,000 pounds under the maximum limit, and that Rooney inspected the truck before starting the 6 percent down grade on the highway.

Rooney couldn't see the oncoming van on a curve, and he crossed the road's double yellow lines to try to get the runaway truck into a field, the sergeant said.

At that point, Payson said, Rooney was in what the law describes as "imminent peril" and justified in trying to save his life.

"He did not know this van was going to come around the curve," Payson said. "Everything happened in two seconds. It's very sad for the family."

John Zulewski, who lost his wife, son and sister-in-law in the crash, and his attorney met Tuesday with Payson, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and several others to discuss the decision.

"He (Zulewski) was prepared, because he knew it was coming," Payson said. "He was not happy about it."

The sergeant said Rooney has been "very cooperative, very remorseful."

"When the dust settled, this is just a pure accident," Payson said. "Five seconds either way, this wouldn't have happened."