Road rage causes fatal accident
Danney Ball
Hollister - A several-mile long chase along highways 101 and 156 that
included one motorist ramming another and brandishing a baseball bat ended
Sunday with the death of one San Juan Bautista teen and major injuries to
several other San Benito County residents, according to police.
The
California Highway Patrol is looking for the man who, allegedly in a fit of road
rage, caused the accident that killed Paulino Jimenez Elizarraras and injured
four other county residents, including county tax collector Mary Andrade, around
3pm on Highway 156 Sunday, said Officer Brad Voyles.
The CHP is
searching for the car, a white 1990 Toyota Celica with a California license
plate of 3HFK695, and the driver who intentionally rammed the Jeep Cherokee
Elizarraras was a passenger in. Because police believe the suspect intentionally
caused the fatal accident, he could face a murder charge if caught, according to
San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield.
“That’s more towards
murder conduct,” Sarsfield said. “(Felony) vehicular manslaughter is if you
violate one of the rules of the road with gross negligence. If it’s an
intentional act where you’re ramming someone off the road, that’s
murder.”
The driver of the Jeep, 20-year-old San Juan Bautista resident
Manuel Vuella, suffered major injuries and was flown to Stanford Medical Center,
but is expected to be OK, Voyles said.
The owner of the suspect Celica is
Hector Vivanco, who has both a Salinas and Hollister address, Voyles said.
“We know who the owner is, but we can’t put him behind the wheel,”
Voyles said. “We need somebody who saw (the driver) prior, during or after to
give us a description.”
Also seriously injured was Hollister resident
David Bartlett, 37, who is in critical condition with major internal injuries at
Stanford Medical Center, Voyles said. Bartlett was a passenger in a Ford
Expedition driven by Hollister resident Ernest Andrade, 60, who is also at
Stanford with a broken arm and multiple cuts to his arms and face, he said.
Andrade’s wife, Mary, 54, was also flown to Stanford with shoulder pain and cuts
to her legs and face, but is expected to be fine, Voyles said.
“With the
traffic on 101 and 156, this could have been a lot more serious and we could
have a lot more people seriously hurt or dead,” Voyles said.
While the
crash happened on Highway 156, the incident began on Highway 101 when Vuella
pulled out of the Red Barn in his 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Toyota Celica
began coming up behind it at speeds around 85 mph, Voyles said. The Celica
rammed the Jeep several times while traveling on Highway 101, and witnesses told
CHP officers it looked like the Celica was trying to run the Jeep off the road,
Voyles said. Investigators do not know if the occupants of the two vehicles knew
each other or not, he said.
Both vehicles exited Highway 101 and
continued eastbound on Highway 156, where witnesses saw the Celica drive into
the center divider two or three times as if the driver was trying to pass the
Jeep, Voyles said. While in the center divider, the passenger in the Celica, a
Hispanic male in his early 20s with short hair, rolled down the window and
brandished a baseball bat like he was trying to hit someone in the other car,
Voyles said. At that time, the driver veered right and the car’s right-front hit
the Jeep’s left rear bumper - spinning the vehicle counter-clockwise across the
center divide into the opposite lane of traffic, Voyles said.
The CHP
doesn’t know how fast the cars were traveling at the time of the collision, but
when the Jeep crossed into the westbound lane Andrade didn’t have time to break
or swerve and broadsided the Jeep. Both vehicles overturned, Voyles said.
Elizarraras was pronounced dead at the scene, according to San Benito County
Sheriff’s Sgt. Wes Walker.
Elizarraras’ autopsy isn’t scheduled until
Wednesday, but the cause of death most likely is major blunt force trauma,
Walker said.
The Celica fled at a high speed, and Voyles said there
should be noticeable damage to the front of the car, but it is not likely that
either occupant was injured.
Voyles asked that anyone with information
about the accident contact CHP investigators as soon as possible. The longer it
takes to find the person responsible, the harder it will be to prosecute, he
said.
When an arrest is made could also determine whether the person
might face a murder or felony vehicular manslaughter charge, Voyles
said.
“If there’s not enough evidence to tie him to it, the DA’s going to
be reluctant to do anything with it,” Voyles said. “The more we get gives us a
better chance of prosecuting the case.”
In an unrelated accident,
40-year-old Hollister resident Cipriana Hernandez Gonzalez died in a
single-vehicle accident on Fairview Road Saturday around 6am, Voyles
said.
Gonzalez was driving her 1992 Mitsubishi southbound on Fairview
Road, just south of Fairview Court, when she drifted off the road, bounced off a
guardrail, shot across the opposite lane of traffic and hit a mailbox, Voyles
said. She continued on the shoulder and hit a fence where her car overturned and
came to rest on its wheels in a dirt field, he said.
Although she was
wearing her seat belt, due to the force of the collision Gonzalez was pronounced
dead at the scene, Voyles said.
Anyone with information about the hit
and run accident on Highway 156 Sunday is asked to contact either CHP officers
Brad Voyles or Kevin Alexander at (408) 848-2324.
Erin Musgrave
covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
emus...@freelancenews.com