Crash leaves girl dead, three other people seriously injured in rural Fresno County
A teenage girl was killed and three other people seriously hurt Saturday morning in a two-car crash in southern Fresno County.
The collision happened shortly after 7 a.m. at Mt. Whitney Avenue and Cedar Street, between the towns of Riverdale and Laton and north of the Kings River and the Fresno-Kings county line.
Investigators with the California Highway Patrol reported that a 2020 Lexus sedan driven by 35-year-old Ashley Engen of Hanford was heading north on Cedar Street (called Cedar Avenue north of Elkhorn Avenue) and ran a stop sign at Mt. Whitney Avenue.
Engen drove into the path of a 2016 Honda Accord that was westbound on Mt. Whitney, according to a news release. The Honda’s driver was identified by the CHP as Leticia Cardona, 40, of Laton.
Officers said neither driver had a chance to take evasive action. Cardona’s Honda struck the Lexus broadside on the passenger side, and the impact carried both vehicles through the chain link fence of a nearby property into a lot at the northwest corner of the intersection. The Lexus rolled several times before coming to rest on its wheels at least 150 feet away from the impact.
A 14-year-old passenger in the Honda, who officers said was Cardona’s daughter, was killed. Her name was not released.
The two drivers, Engen and Cardona, both received major injuries and were taken by ambulance to Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno. Engen’s passenger, her 15-year-old daughter whose name was not released, suffered what officers described as life-threatening injuries and was airlifted by helicopter to Community Regional Medical Center.
Officers said neither drugs nor alcohol are believed to be factors in the crash.
