An Arbuckle mother and her two teenage daughters returning home from a family visit were identified Monday as the victims of a horrific crash near Madison caused by a wrong-way driver.
Yolo County coroner’s officials identified them as Sofia Ramirez, 38; Alyssa Santiago, 17; and Brenda Santiago, 15. A fourth person, Joaquin Sanchez — Ramirez’s husband and stepfather to the two girls — was transported to a Vacaville hospital with minor injuries.
Friends said the family was headed home from a day trip to the Bay Area, where they had visited relatives.
The wrong-way driver, 36-year-old Francisco Salazar Garcia of Antioch, also was killed in the collision, the latest in a recent series of deadly Sacramento-area crashes involving motorists traveling into oncoming traffic.
“We’re just having a run of these right now,” said Officer Pedro Leon, spokesman for the Woodland California Highway Patrol, which is still investigating the 10:20 p.m. crash Saturday on Interstate 505 north of Highway 16.
While it’s still unknown whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the collision, “we’ve had some prime examples in recent weeks of what the results can be. Do we not already know that we don’t drink and drive?” Leon asked.
Leon said officers are looking into where Garcia was traveling from when he approached CHP Officer Joell Merrill’s patrol car, headed southbound in the freeway’s northbound lanes.
Merrill immediately activated all of his emergency lights, but Garcia’s Honda Accord passed right by him at a high rate of speed, estimated to be about 85 mph.
“It certainly didn’t slow him down,” Leon said of the CHP car’s flashing lights. Merrill quickly made a U-turn and headed southbound in an attempt to overtake the Accord, but could only watch helplessly as it passed two other vehicles before striking the Arbuckle family’s Toyota Camry.
Ramirez and her daughters were pronounced dead at the scene, as was Garcia, Leon said. The freeway, which usually is lightly traveled during the late-night hours, was shut down for about 5 1/2 hours during the investigation and cleanup process.
A gofundme.com fundraiser has been established to cover the Arbuckle family’s funeral costs, nearly reaching its $30,000 target as of Monday afternoon.
Saturday’s crash was the Sacramento region’s third in 11 days to involve a wrong-way driver, as well as multiple fatalities.
The first was on April 22, when a Carmichael woman who drove onto Highway 50 from a West Sacramento offramp collided with a truck near Stockton Boulevard, killing the three men inside. The woman also died in the fiery wreck.
Just three days later, an allegedly drunken driver with a suspended license crossed into the oncoming lane on Highway 113 near Yuba City, causing a head-on collision that killed three brothers in the other vehicle. The wrong-way driver survived and is facing vehicular manslaughter charges.
Leon said such incidents can take a toll on first responders, and a supervisor was sent to Saturday’s crash scene to offer support to Merrill. The 17-year CHP veteran went on his regular days off following the end of his shift and “has a few days to recoup.”
“He seemed to be OK,” Leon said, adding that the CHP provides support services to its officers who are affected by traumatic events. “If there is a need, it’s available to them.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
