Woman calls family from SUV to report disturbance, dies moments later in crash with big rig
A woman died Saturday morning after the SUV she was in smashed into a big rig in southeast Fresno, moments after she called her family to report a disturbance inside the vehicle.
She was identified Sunday by the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office as Mina Serrano, 22, of Fresno.
Details about what led to the fatal crash are not yet clear, but police said there was possibly a disturbance inside the SUV between Serrano and the 34-year-old driver identified as Joshua Parker.
Parker was arrested and booked into Fresno County Jail where he’s facing charges of felony vehicular manslaughter, felony DUI and felony child endangerment.
Lt. Charlie Chamalbide could not say how Parker and Serrano were related or to whom a 2-year-old child in the back seat belonged. But, he said, family members of the woman told officers about her phone call moments before the crash.
“She had called them prior to the accident saying they were having some problems,” Chamalbide said.
Chamalbide said police are looking into whether the case involved domestic violence.
The crash happened around 11:10 a.m. on Belmont Avenue between Cedar and Barton avenues.
Chamalbide said that before crashing into the big rig, the SUV sideswiped a parked car and several pallets of merchandise that had just been unloaded off the big rig for delivery to a nearby store.
Serrano died at the scene. Parker was taken to Community Regional Medical Center with injuries.
The 2-year-old child who was in the back seat of the car was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Chamalbide said the child did not appear hurt from the crash.
This story was originally published August 17, 2019 at 2:17 PM.
