Friant Road crash kills 1, sends 4 to hospital; investigators look at second car’s role
A 25-year-old man died after he was thrown from a car as it flipped over and crashed Saturday afternoon on Friant Road in northeast Fresno, the California Highway Patrol said.
The CHP said another car played a role in the crash, which happened just after 4 p.m. near Willow Avenue.
Rosalio Galindo Jr., 25, of Fresno was arrested for felony hit and run and was booked into the Fresno County Jail, Fresno area CHP public information officer Mike Salas said.
Four passengers from the car that flipped were taken to Community Regional Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, Salas said. The injuries were to children ages 6, 7 and 14 and to a 21-year-old man.
The driver was identified Sunday by the Fresno County Coroner’s Office as Jesus Gonzalez of Fresno.
Salas described the crash:
Gonzalez’s car was following a curve, apparently in excess of the speed limit, when he lost control, skidding from the northbound lane and across the southbound lanes.
The car landed on its roof at the bottom of the hill below Copper River Country Club.
When officers and other emergency personnel arrived, they found Gonzalez in the roadway. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The CHP believes he was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.
Following the crash and emergency personnel arriving on scene, Galindo returned with his passenger and indicated he was involved. Salas described Galindo as an unlicensed driver.
At some point, investigators believe, the cars bumped into each other, but it was not known how much of a factor that was in the crash.
Alcohol is suspected to be a factor in the crash but has not been confirmed, Salas said.
Traffic was blocked at northbound Friant Road and East Copper Avenue during the investigation and cleanup.
This story was originally published June 27, 2020 at 6:59 PM.
