Lila Vasquez could only pray Tuesday morning that her niece, who
she knew had been in a car engulfed by flames the night before, was
the lone survivor of a crash that claimed three lives.
Hollister – Lila Vasquez could only pray Tuesday morning that her niece, who she knew had been in a car engulfed by flames the night before, was the lone survivor of a crash that claimed three lives.
By talking to hospital officials at San Jose Valley Medical Center that morning, though, Vasquez learned the 13-year-old she considered “more of a daughter than a niece” wasn’t lucky enough to be the one clinging to life.
The news, as it was for officials and students at the schools the kids attended, was unconfirmed but agonizingly inevitable: Her niece, Vanessa Jimenez, and two other juveniles had perished in the most gruesome local vehicle crash in recent memory.
A 16-year-old boy who attended San Andreas Continuation School, Jimenez and 13-year-old Albert Andrew Hernandez, both of Santa Ana Opportunity School, died in the crash. Another 13-year-old girl who attended Santa Ana survived, but was hospitalized with major injuries and is in a coma induced by doctors. The Free Lance is not naming the juvenile who survived.
Outside the Jimenez’s Hawkins Street home Tuesday afternoon, family and friends gathered all day. Struggling to collect her thoughts, Vasquez talked about a “typical 13-year-old.” Not the type of girl, she said, who’d get involved with what happened Monday.
“She’s going to be missed, and we love her very, very much,” said Vasquez, seated outside the home of Vanessa’s mother, Estela Hernandez.
Vanessa’s mother was inside the house resting at the time, Vasquez said. Her father, Hector Jimenez, didn’t return a phone message to his Hollister house.
Family members of Albert Hernandez and the 16-year-old boy whose identity wasn’t confirmed by press time could not be reached for comment. Vasquez said she knew only the 16-year-old boy’s first name – “Mondo.”
Monday night’s crash also left the two school populations searching for answers. Having relatively small populations of around 90 kids and 45 kids, respectively, Santa Ana and San Andreas students are a tight-knit group, according to Tim Foley, superintendent of county schools.
“It just tears you apart. You get sick of this stuff,” said Foley, referring to the all-too-common occurrence of school-age tragedy in San Benito, including the suicide death of a 17-year-old San Andreas student in March and many roadway fatalities in recent years.
It was just 10 months ago when two San Benito High School graduates were killed in an alcohol-related crash at Fairview and Santa Ana Valley roads.
The impact of the most recent tragedy wasn’t limited to the two campuses, though.
“She (Vanessa) seemed like a nice person,” said a San Benito High student who didn’t want to give her name. “I had a few classes with her (in middle school) but I didn’t know her outside of class.”
Traveling in a 2001 Jaguar, which authorities suspect they stole from an uninvolved friend’s mother, the four kids were pulled over at about 10:30pm by a patrol officer for running a stop sign, according to the California Highway Patrol.
After the driver swapped seats with one of the two boys, the vehicle drove off, continuing to speed through stop signs. Ultimately, the car, traveling between 80 and 100 mph, hit a power pole, flipped and burst into flames, according to the CHP.
With rumors circulating immediately Tuesday morning, the two schools initiated a plan for such tragic incidents. They had staff members trained in grief counseling on hand for students and teachers, said Mike Sanchez, principal of both schools. And San Benito High sent over two of its counselors as well, according to its superintendent, Jean Burns Slater.
Still, nothing was confirmed throughout the school day. Authorities had yet to identify the remains of two victims.
“The toughest thing we’ve had to deal with is the unknown,” Sanchez said, “because we still don’t have the official word of anything.”
As the day progressed, authorities confirmed one identity and family members confirmed the two others. And mourners placed flowers at the site of the grisly crash. Workers replaced a power pole ripped apart by the impact. Visitors, some who knew the kids, others who didn’t, paid respects.
Hollister resident Nina Lazavo, who never met the kids, observed the site Tuesday evening to solemnize the loss for a co-worker whose daughter did know them.
“I didn’t know them,” she said. “I just feel sorry for them.”
Photographer Nick Lovejoy and sports editor Nathan Mixter contributed to this report. Kollin Kosmicki covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach him at 637-5566, ext. 331 or
kk*******@fr***********.com
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