The remaining victims of a seven-vehicle pileup that resulted in Monday’s fatality on Highway 25 have been released from hospitals, according to a California Highway Patrol officer.
The rush-hour accident killed Hollister resident Omar Carino Mendez, 33, who was driving in stop-and-go traffic two cars in front of a big rig. Victims of the accident took a Calstar helicopter ride to the San Jose Regional Medical Center, a Stanford life flight and ground transportation to the Natividad Medical Center. The incident involved eight Hollister residents and one Fresno resident.
“All parties have been released from the hospital,” said CHP Officer Herb Kellogg. “Party number two—both Noel Fragozo and Saul Rivera—both have received stitches but those were the worst injuries that were received besides the person that died as a result of the collision.”
The accident occurred when cars began to slow for an unknown reason in stop-and-go traffic, Kellogg told the Free Lance earlier this week. The driver of the big rig did not bring his vehicle to a stop in time and hit a 2014 Ford F150, which hit a 1999 Honda Accord and started a “chain reaction collision,” the officer said.
Mendez had been in the Honda Accord.
The big rig driver was Fresno resident Mandeep Mangat, 34, according to information released by CHP. Fragozo, 34, and Rivera, 42, were in the 2014 Ford F-150. The big rig was carrying about 2,000 pounds of produce and the vehicle’s driver was OK, according to initial reports from CHP.
The incident was the second fatal accident in two days on Highway 25. On Sunday night, a 37-year-old Hollister man, Armando Gonzalez, was killed after being struck by a car driven by 23-year-old Hollister resident Robert Thomas, who was suspected of driving under the influence during the incident.
This year, in six months, there have been three fatalities on Highway 25, said CHP Officer Amy Tritenbach. Last year, over a period of 12 months, there were no fatalities reported on the highway, though there were two fatalities in the intersection between Highway 156 and 25, she said.
