One man dead in fatal three car crash
Fatal car crash on highway 111 also sends two women to hospital by helicopter - Vanessa Gongora reports
HEBER, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - One man, 89 years of age, veered off the road on Highway 111 south of Heber Road into the opposite lane facing oncoming traffic and collided head on with a 40 year old woman, Ashley Castillo.
According to California Highway Patrol (CHP), the man was pronounced dead at the scene. He was identified as Gregorio Gomez by the Imperial County Coroner's Office and no autopsy has been done yet.
He had a passenger Elena Gomez, 84 years of age that sustained moderate injuries and was transported to Desert Regional Medical Center by REACH Air, according to CHP.
Calexico firefighter and EMT, Raul Canizales said their department got called into assist with extracting Castillo from her vehicle.
According to the CHP, Castillo sustained major injuries and was also transported to Desert Regional Medical Center via Mercy Air.
Immediately after the initial crash, another car collided into Castillo. CHP says the driver of the third vehicle, Carlos Jimenez did not sustain any injuries.
CHP Public Information Officer Arturo Platero says the main cause of this crash was the wrong way driver and the speed of the drivers are unknown.
"Unfortunately when we have wrong way collisions or wrong way crashes, these type of crashes turn out to be major if not fatal. That's why the California Highway Patrol stresses that we do our best to drive defensively and undistracted so that we are aware for any wrong way drivers coming toward our location," said Platero.
Platero says State Route 111 is a very traveled roadway.
"It's the main highway that takes us to the Mexicali border so it's traveled by everywhere from in town to out of town travelers. As far as CHP being out there, we do our best to travel along all roadways and make sure all roadways are safe. Unfortunately if we have a call and are tied up, then it kind of takes us away from patrolling that area," Platero said.
Platero said this year there have been about 30 car crashes on Highway 111 already, more than previous years and says they hope to slow that down.
