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A 27-year-old Chowchilla man may have been texting when he died in a fatal traffic crash Wednesday afternoon in Fairmead, the California Highway Patrol said.
The Madera County Sheriff's Office on Thursday afternoon identified the driver as Carlos Rodriguez Castellon.
He was driving a Nissan Pathfinder through the unincorporated community just east of Highway 99 and north of Chowchilla about 3:15 p.m. at a speed of 40 mph when he veered to the left and slammed another vehicle. He sustained blunt force trauma from the steering wheel and died before he could be airlifted to a hospital.
The CHP said physical evidence indicates Rodriguez Castellon was composing a text message at the time of the crash, although the incident is still under investigation.
