street racing in Elk Grove claims innocent victim
06-03-2006, 09:43 AM
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street racing in Elk Grove claims innocent victim
Firefighters work to free a victim after a high-speed collision Friday afternoon on Franklin Boulevard, north of Elk Grove Boulevard, that left one passenger dead and five others injured.
Originally Posted by SacBee.com
One of two Chevrolet Camaros that police say were speeding on Franklin Boulevard late Friday afternoon crashed into a Honda Accord that was turning left, killing a Honda passenger and injuring five others.
Names and ages of the victims were not available from police, but they were all male and between 16 and 21 years old, according to Elk Grove Police Lt. James Burich.
A driver and passenger in the second Camaro, which was not involved in the wreck, were questioned by police.
"This is very unfortunate and tragic," said Burich, who said "high speed" was a factor, though he could not say whether street racing was involved.
According to Burich, a white Camaro with three males and a black Camaro with two males were heading north on Franklin Boulevard about 4:30 p.m.
The white Camaro collided with the southbound Honda that was attempting to turn left onto Roselin Way, midway between Laguna and Elk Grove boulevards.
The passenger in the front seat of the Honda was pronounced dead at the scene. Injuries to the others were serious but not life-threatening, police said.
One of the other Honda passengers sat shirtless in the emergency room of Methodist Hospital with bloody scrapes a few hours after the crash.
Sixteen-year-old James Maldonado-Redoble recounted how he had called "shotgun" to sit in the front seat, the seat where his young friend died. Instead, he rode in the back.
"We were on Franklin," he said, "the next thing I know, the dude in the white Camaro passes the dude in the black Camaro and hits us. I felt my neck jerk. Then the next thing I knew the engine was not even in front of me. The clutch and the steering wheel were gone. (The driver) was on the grass and (the front passenger) was in front of me. I tried to wake up (the passenger), but there was no pulse."
Maldonado-Redoble was treated for glass under his skin, bruises and a possibly broken foot.
The collision wrenched the Honda in half, flinging the front section the length of a football field and strewing glass and metal along the road. The other half of the Honda was so mangled with the Camaro that the cars were indistinguishably intertwined.
The force of the collision astounded even veterans of traffic accidents.
Chris Murphy, director of the state Office of Traffic Safety, lives near the crash site and was among the crowd gathered at the scene. Murphy said the high-speed wreck should serve as a reminder to young drivers.
"One bad choice -- death and carnage, and that's exactly what we have here," said Murphy.
The crash drew more than 100 onlookers.
"I heard something loud like a bomb," said Adam Wood, who jumped from his couch when he heard the crash. Wood said he often hears speeding cars on the wide lanes of Franklin Boulevard, especially at night.
Shannon Mills was standing outside her home near Franklin Boulevard talking to a neighbor when she heard the crash.
"All you heard was acceleration, acceleration, then impact - bam," she said. "We knew it was going to be bad."
She said a growing number of souped-up cars are racing along the boulevard and police aren't doing enough to slow them down. "You would think the speed limit is 60 to 65 miles per hour, everyone goes so fast," she said. "It's a sad wake-up call."
Maldonado-Redoble, who is home-schooled, said he and the other two youths in the Honda -- brothers -- had been at his house, and were on their way to the home of their grandmother.
He said the Honda driver is a 17-year-old junior at Grant High School. The driver's brother, a freshman at Grant, was the one who died in the front passenger seat, Maldonado-Redoble said.
Outside the emergency room, Ron Verrett said his 19-year-old son, Phil, was in the back seat of the white Camaro. His son suffered a broken leg and lacerations on his face.
Someone had picked up his son's cell phone and called home to tell him about the accident, said Verrett, who lives nearby.
"When I got there, the kid was already laying in the street, covered with a sheet," Verrett said.
"They had to cut (the driver of the white Camaro) out of the car. He was just pinned under the dashboard while I was there," Verrett said.
The Bee is not using the names of others involved, pending verification.
Verrett said he spoke to the driver of the black Camaro, an acquaintance of his son's, who told him they had been speeding.
Attempts to crack down on street racing range from stepped-up enforcement, outlawing gathering to watch racing and even impounding vehicles.
But authorities concede they can't catch everyone.
After an 18-year-old Elk Grove man died in a high-speed race in 2003, the city put in four-way stops and painted white lines on Harbor Point Drive in Laguna West, one of the newer neighborhoods with wide blacktop that seems to entice street racing.
Earlier this year, a street race turned deadly in Citrus Heights when a 25-year-old Rancho Cordova man struck a tree.
Names and ages of the victims were not available from police, but they were all male and between 16 and 21 years old, according to Elk Grove Police Lt. James Burich.
A driver and passenger in the second Camaro, which was not involved in the wreck, were questioned by police.
"This is very unfortunate and tragic," said Burich, who said "high speed" was a factor, though he could not say whether street racing was involved.
According to Burich, a white Camaro with three males and a black Camaro with two males were heading north on Franklin Boulevard about 4:30 p.m.
The white Camaro collided with the southbound Honda that was attempting to turn left onto Roselin Way, midway between Laguna and Elk Grove boulevards.
The passenger in the front seat of the Honda was pronounced dead at the scene. Injuries to the others were serious but not life-threatening, police said.
One of the other Honda passengers sat shirtless in the emergency room of Methodist Hospital with bloody scrapes a few hours after the crash.
Sixteen-year-old James Maldonado-Redoble recounted how he had called "shotgun" to sit in the front seat, the seat where his young friend died. Instead, he rode in the back.
"We were on Franklin," he said, "the next thing I know, the dude in the white Camaro passes the dude in the black Camaro and hits us. I felt my neck jerk. Then the next thing I knew the engine was not even in front of me. The clutch and the steering wheel were gone. (The driver) was on the grass and (the front passenger) was in front of me. I tried to wake up (the passenger), but there was no pulse."
Maldonado-Redoble was treated for glass under his skin, bruises and a possibly broken foot.
The collision wrenched the Honda in half, flinging the front section the length of a football field and strewing glass and metal along the road. The other half of the Honda was so mangled with the Camaro that the cars were indistinguishably intertwined.
The force of the collision astounded even veterans of traffic accidents.
Chris Murphy, director of the state Office of Traffic Safety, lives near the crash site and was among the crowd gathered at the scene. Murphy said the high-speed wreck should serve as a reminder to young drivers.
"One bad choice -- death and carnage, and that's exactly what we have here," said Murphy.
The crash drew more than 100 onlookers.
"I heard something loud like a bomb," said Adam Wood, who jumped from his couch when he heard the crash. Wood said he often hears speeding cars on the wide lanes of Franklin Boulevard, especially at night.
Shannon Mills was standing outside her home near Franklin Boulevard talking to a neighbor when she heard the crash.
"All you heard was acceleration, acceleration, then impact - bam," she said. "We knew it was going to be bad."
She said a growing number of souped-up cars are racing along the boulevard and police aren't doing enough to slow them down. "You would think the speed limit is 60 to 65 miles per hour, everyone goes so fast," she said. "It's a sad wake-up call."
Maldonado-Redoble, who is home-schooled, said he and the other two youths in the Honda -- brothers -- had been at his house, and were on their way to the home of their grandmother.
He said the Honda driver is a 17-year-old junior at Grant High School. The driver's brother, a freshman at Grant, was the one who died in the front passenger seat, Maldonado-Redoble said.
Outside the emergency room, Ron Verrett said his 19-year-old son, Phil, was in the back seat of the white Camaro. His son suffered a broken leg and lacerations on his face.
Someone had picked up his son's cell phone and called home to tell him about the accident, said Verrett, who lives nearby.
"When I got there, the kid was already laying in the street, covered with a sheet," Verrett said.
"They had to cut (the driver of the white Camaro) out of the car. He was just pinned under the dashboard while I was there," Verrett said.
The Bee is not using the names of others involved, pending verification.
Verrett said he spoke to the driver of the black Camaro, an acquaintance of his son's, who told him they had been speeding.
Attempts to crack down on street racing range from stepped-up enforcement, outlawing gathering to watch racing and even impounding vehicles.
But authorities concede they can't catch everyone.
After an 18-year-old Elk Grove man died in a high-speed race in 2003, the city put in four-way stops and painted white lines on Harbor Point Drive in Laguna West, one of the newer neighborhoods with wide blacktop that seems to entice street racing.
Earlier this year, a street race turned deadly in Citrus Heights when a 25-year-old Rancho Cordova man struck a tree.
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06-03-2006, 10:48 AM
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Crazy stuff. Stories like this seem to keep poping up once a year or more. They just had to add this to the story.....
Earlier this year, a street race turned deadly in Citrus Heights when a 25-year-old Rancho Cordova man struck a tree.
06-03-2006, 11:51 AM
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Not at all placing blame on the Honda driver, but I'm just curious, what's the visibility like on Franklin Blvd? Did the Honda not see the Camaros coming?
06-03-2006, 12:33 PM
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It's kinda hard to guess the speed of an oncoming vehicle, a lot of times people assume they are going close to the speed limit (its 60-65 mph on this road?). 90 mph is pretty damned fast when you are talking about oncoming traffic and assuming the car is not going more than 70 mph...
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06-03-2006, 12:43 PM
#6
Originally Posted by Keisatsu
It's kinda hard to guess the speed of an oncoming vehicle, a lot of times people assume they are going close to the speed limit (its 60-65 mph on this road?). 90 mph is pretty damned fast when you are talking about oncoming traffic and assuming the car is not going more than 70 mph...
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06-03-2006, 01:39 PM
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i used to live right around the corner, and my best friend and sister live within a mile of where this happened, that stretch of franklin is all straight, theres always ppl speeding up and down and racing on that stretch because its kindve discrete, has 3 or 4 lanes and light signals are pretty far apart, perfect for wanting to race, as sum1 said tho, i highly doubt they were just "speeding", cmon, 2 camaros, filled witha buncha teenage punks?! thats got street race written all over it.. i guess some ppl just have to learn the hard way that street racing is bad, take for instance the innocent teen in the honda that was pulverized by the white camaro...
06-03-2006, 02:27 PM
#13
Originally Posted by midnitewrx02
i used to live right around the corner, and my best friend and sister live within a mile of where this happened, that stretch of franklin is all straight, theres always ppl speeding up and down and racing on that stretch because its kindve discrete, has 3 or 4 lanes and light signals are pretty far apart, perfect for wanting to race, as sum1 said tho, i highly doubt they were just "speeding", cmon, 2 camaros, filled witha buncha teenage punks?! thats got street race written all over it.. i guess some ppl just have to learn the hard way that street racing is bad, take for instance the innocent teen in the honda that was pulverized by the white camaro...
06-03-2006, 03:13 PM
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Originally Posted by SacBee.com
The collision wrenched the Honda in half, flinging the front section the length of a football field and strewing glass and metal along the road. The other half of the Honda was so mangled with the Camaro that the cars were indistinguishably intertwined.
--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush