A several-mile long chase along highways 101 and 156 that
included one motorist ramming another and brandishing a baseball
bat ended Sunday with the death of one San Juan Bautista teen and
major injuries to several other San Benito County residents,
according to police.
Hollister – A several-mile long chase along highways 101 and 156 that included one motorist ramming another and brandishing a baseball bat ended Sunday with the death of one San Juan Bautista teen and major injuries to several other San Benito County residents, according to police.
The California Highway Patrol is looking for the man who, allegedly in a fit of road rage, caused the accident that killed Paulino Jimenez Elizarraras and injured four other county residents, including county tax collector Mary Andrade, around 3pm on Highway 156 Sunday, said Officer Brad Voyles.
The CHP is searching for the car, a white 1990 Toyota Celica with a California license plate of 3HFK695, and the driver who intentionally rammed the Jeep Cherokee Elizarraras was a passenger in. Because police believe the suspect intentionally caused the fatal accident, he could face a murder charge if caught, according to San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield.
“That’s more towards murder conduct,” Sarsfield said. “(Felony) vehicular manslaughter is if you violate one of the rules of the road with gross negligence. If it’s an intentional act where you’re ramming someone off the road, that’s murder.”
The driver of the Jeep, 20-year-old San Juan Bautista resident Manuel Vuella, suffered major injuries and was flown to Stanford Medical Center, but is expected to be OK, Voyles said.
The owner of the suspect Celica is Hector Vivanco, who has both a Salinas and Hollister address, Voyles said.
“We know who the owner is, but we can’t put him behind the wheel,” Voyles said. “We need somebody who saw (the driver) prior, during or after to give us a description.”
Also seriously injured was Hollister resident David Bartlett, 37, who is in critical condition with major internal injuries at Stanford Medical Center, Voyles said. Bartlett was a passenger in a Ford Expedition driven by Hollister resident Ernest Andrade, 60, who is also at Stanford with a broken arm and multiple cuts to his arms and face, he said. Andrade’s wife, Mary, 54, was also flown to Stanford with shoulder pain and cuts to her legs and face, but is expected to be fine, Voyles said.
“With the traffic on 101 and 156, this could have been a lot more serious and we could have a lot more people seriously hurt or dead,” Voyles said.
While the crash happened on Highway 156, the incident began on Highway 101 when Vuella pulled out of the Red Barn in his 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Toyota Celica began coming up behind it at speeds around 85 mph, Voyles said. The Celica rammed the Jeep several times while traveling on Highway 101, and witnesses told CHP officers it looked like the Celica was trying to run the Jeep off the road, Voyles said. Investigators do not know if the occupants of the two vehicles knew each other or not, he said.
Both vehicles exited Highway 101 and continued eastbound on Highway 156, where witnesses saw the Celica drive into the center divider two or three times as if the driver was trying to pass the Jeep, Voyles said. While in the center divider, the passenger in the Celica, a Hispanic male in his early 20s with short hair, rolled down the window and brandished a baseball bat like he was trying to hit someone in the other car, Voyles said. At that time, the driver veered right and the car’s right-front hit the Jeep’s left rear bumper – spinning the vehicle counter-clockwise across the center divide into the opposite lane of traffic, Voyles said.
The CHP doesn’t know how fast the cars were traveling at the time of the collision, but when the Jeep crossed into the westbound lane Andrade didn’t have time to break or swerve and broadsided the Jeep. Both vehicles overturned, Voyles said. Elizarraras was pronounced dead at the scene, according to San Benito County Sheriff’s Sgt. Wes Walker.
Elizarraras’ autopsy isn’t scheduled until Wednesday, but the cause of death most likely is major blunt force trauma, Walker said.
The Celica fled at a high speed, and Voyles said there should be noticeable damage to the front of the car, but it is not likely that either occupant was injured.
Voyles asked that anyone with information about the accident contact CHP investigators as soon as possible. The longer it takes to find the person responsible, the harder it will be to prosecute, he said.
When an arrest is made could also determine whether the person might face a murder or felony vehicular manslaughter charge, Voyles said.
“If there’s not enough evidence to tie him to it, the DA’s going to be reluctant to do anything with it,” Voyles said. “The more we get gives us a better chance of prosecuting the case.”
In an unrelated accident, 40-year-old Hollister resident Cipriana Hernandez Gonzalez died in a single-vehicle accident on Fairview Road Saturday around 6am, Voyles said.
Gonzalez was driving her 1992 Mitsubishi southbound on Fairview Road, just south of Fairview Court, when she drifted off the road, bounced off a guardrail, shot across the opposite lane of traffic and hit a mailbox, Voyles said. She continued on the shoulder and hit a fence where her car overturned and came to rest on its wheels in a dirt field, he said.
Although she was wearing her seat belt, due to the force of the collision Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene, Voyles said.
Anyone with information about the hit and run accident on Highway 156 Sunday is asked to contact either CHP officers Brad Voyles or Kevin Alexander at (408) 848-2324.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
em*******@fr***********.com
