A 17-year-old Gilroy teen died in a single-vehicle accident
after her car collided with a host of apricot trees in an orchard
off Fairview Road in the early morning hours Sunday, according to
the California Highway Patrol.
Hollister – A 17-year-old Gilroy teen died in a single-vehicle accident after her car collided with a host of apricot trees in an orchard off Fairview Road in the early morning hours Sunday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Monique Llanos, who was not wearing her seat belt at the time of the collision, was thrown from her 1996 Land Rover after she drove off the road and her car overturned in the middle of an apricot orchard on Fairview Road north of Comstock Road around 5am Sunday, according to the CHP.
She was flown by Calstar to Stanford Medical Center with massive head injuries, but later died. Her passenger, a 15-year-old female from Gilroy who is not being named because she is a juvenile, was wearing her seat belt and suffered only a minor cut to her hand, according to police.
Llanos was driving northbound on Fairview Road at an unknown rate of speed when she misjudged a turn, over corrected and ran off the road into the orchard, according to police.
Her car hit numerous apricot trees and overturned. It is unknown where she was traveling from or to, but alcohol was not a factor in the crash, according to CHP Officer Teri Neidigh.
Neighbors of Llanos chatted Monday afternoon and recalled the friendly girl who could often be seen completing home improvement projects, either on her own home or on a neighbor’s.
“She was a tough girl,” said Leticia Moreno, who lives across the street and said Llanos often played with neighborhood children. “She did everything herself.”
At 14, Llanos fibbed about her age so she could get a job, her grandmother Martha Valle said.
“She would say, ‘I don’t know why other kids waste their time. I want to work’,” Valle said.
Llanos was planning to attend a four-year college after graduating from Gilroy High School next year, Valle said.
Friends said Llanos loved basketball, played for the high school basketball team, and often shot hoops in front of the house she shared with her mother, Frances Llanos.
Lori Stuenkel contributed to this story.
