Coroner ID’s former Clovis Unified student killed in crash at Woodward Park in Fresno
The Fresno County Coroner’s Office identified the driver who died after speeding through a dangerous intersection before going airborne and crashing at Woodward Park, causing the vehicle to catch on fire.
Khushmeet Mahal, 21, of Fresno died May 9 at Friant and Shepherd avenues in Fresno.
The fiery incident was captured on video by Friant Roulette, a YouTube channel run by a resident that’s dedicated to chronicling collisions at the intersection.
Police said Mahal’s BMW was traveling fast west on Shepherd and didn’t make a turn north or south onto Friant. The car continued into the curb then hit an embankment, launching the vehicle over the fence and crashing into parked vehicles in a yard where city equipment is kept for maintaining the park.
The vehicle burst into flames seconds after the collision.
Mahal was pronounced dead.
Mahal was a former Clovis Unified student, attending Clovis East High School and Clovis Online School, the district confirmed.
A study by Southern California law firm Jacoby and Meyers Injury Lawyers said 21 crashes occurred at the Friant-Shepherd intersection between 2020 and 2024.
Among them was the fatal April 2023 crash when a tow truck ran a stop light that had been lit red for more than 10 seconds then T-boning a sedan that was making a left turn from Shepherd to go south on Friant.
