A 17-year-old San Juan Bautista male, an Anzar High School
student, was killed around 6 p.m. Thursday after he lost control of
his vehicle in a rollover accident while northbound on Salinas Road
near San Juan Bautista, according to the California Highway
Patrol.
A 17-year-old San Juan Bautista male, an Anzar High School student, was killed around 6 p.m. Thursday after he lost control of his vehicle in a rollover accident while northbound on Salinas Road near San Juan Bautista, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The vehicle’s passenger, a 14-year-old girl, also an Anzar student, sustained moderate injuries and was airlifted to Valley Medical Center in San Jose.
The CHP reported that the juvenile driver, who did not have a driver’s license, was going too fast around a left embankment on the rural road. He lost control of his Toyota Tundra pickup and overcorrected, driving the truck off the roadway and rolling it.
The CHP is still investigating the actual speed, CHP Officer and spokesman Jaime Rios said.
“That’s what it looks like right now,” he said. “He went around the curve too fast.”
The truck eventually came to a rest 20 feet from the road, Rios said.
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, due to massive head trauma. The passenger complained of neck pain before being airlifted to San Jose.
Both passengers were wearing their seatbelts, Rios said. The CHP does not believe alcohol was a factor.
“We are still investigating,” he said.
Anzar High School Principal Charlene McKowen said the driver was a senior preparing for graduation later this year. The passenger was a freshman, she said.
The high school is offering counseling to its 460 students, including the driver’s advisory group of 20 students. The school is “responding to everyone’s needs, whatever they are,” McKowen said.
“We are pretty devastated over here,” she said.
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