Two men died in an early morning, high-speed, alcohol-fueled
crash that left a light pole sticking out of a house and had police
combing through a one block-long trail of evidence, police and
witnesses said.
Two men died in an early morning, high-speed, alcohol-fueled crash that left a light pole sticking out of a house and had police combing through a one block-long trail of evidence, police and witnesses said.
One of the deceased men was Joel Zabala, 30, of San Martin, according to a representative with the Santa Clara County Coroner. The other man who was killed was Robert Aguirre, 26, of Gilroy, said his sister, Emily Reyes. Police arrested a third man, the alleged driver, David Torres, 18, for causing injury while driving under the influence, two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and fleeing the scene of an accident after committing vehicular manslaughter.
Reyes, who said Torres dated her niece and was like family, was incensed at what she said were errant charges.
“The Gilroy Police Department needs to do the job correctly because the person they’re trying to get for this doesn’t know how to drive a car. He walks everywhere he goes,” she said. “It’s upsetting to my whole family. We already have enough upset. To hear they’re charging him with this is even more upsetting.”
The single-car crash, involving an older-model Dodge Plymouth, occurred at 12:54 a.m. Thursday at Sixth and Alexander streets, police and witnesses said.
Reyes, who lives about five blocks away from the crash site, received the news that her brother had died early Thursday morning from her sister.
“He’s going to be missed by a lot of people,” Reyes said. Aguirre had four older sisters, grew up in Gilroy and lived on Delta Drive with their mother, she said. “He would do anything to help you, whether he knew you or not.”
Although family members of Zabala could not immediately be contacted, his MySpace page showed that at least one friend had already left condolences.
“Had a blast hangen out with u and wish u were still here with us and ur family it wont be the same with out u cuz R.I.P. love u!” a post in all capital letters read.
The incident rocked the east Gilroy neighborhood, startling more than a few residents awake with strong vibrations and loud noise, witnesses said.
“It’s not the kind of sound that you want to wake up to,” Sixth Street resident Kersty Daniels said.
She said she saw two people that appeared to run to the car frantically after the accident and then leave.
A block-long area of Sixth Street was littered with debris – car window glass, a small tree, leaves, car parts, a cell phone and cell phone case, and various pieces of metal – as of 11 a.m. Thursday, shortly before the car was towed and rain started falling. An empty can of Tecate – split open lengthwise – lay on the ground about six feet from the car, and dried liquid had discolored the pavement near the can.
A pool of blood stained the east side of the Sixth Street crosswalk about 10 feet from the Plymouth, the front portion of which was dented and twisted sideways. The cracked and warped windshield hung onto its frame, but the back window and all four of the door windows had popped. The car’s passenger-side mirror dangled by a wire, and two of the wheels, which had mismatching hubcaps, were blown out. The rear door on the driver’s side of the vehicle was stuck open, crumpled and splattered with blood.
As police circled the scene photographing and labeling evidence Thursday morning, nearby residents hung beyond the police tape, mesmerized by the scene.
Gilroy police officers were in the downtown area on foot patrol early Thursday morning when one of them noticed a white vehicle cross Monterey Street traveling eastbound on Sixth Street at a high rate of speed, Sgt. Wes Stanford said.
Moments later Gilroy police dispatchers received calls about a rollover crash. The first officer on scene found one occupant ejected from the vehicle and another still inside the vehicle, Stanford said.
Gilroy Fire Department paramedics pronounced the first two occupants deceased at the scene soon after, he said.
Although police did not say how fast the car had been traveling, one witness at the scene said he had heard investigators say the car appeared to be traveling about 70 mph.
Skid marks indicated the car passed Railroad Street on Sixth Street, veered left, then ran into a light pole with a bus stop placard about half the way toward Alexander Street. Part of the light pole, which was sheared in two, was thrown into an adjacent house on the northeast corner of Sixth and Alexander streets. It still protruded from the wall of the home late Thursday morning. A small tree from the same corner had been broken off and carried into the middle of the intersection, about 15 feet from where the car ended up, facing south.
Police apprehended Torres, who fled from the scene of the accident on foot, a short distance from the crash, and he was taken via CALSTAR helicopter to a local trauma center, where he was treated for minor injuries, Stanford said. Police later interviewed him at the Gilroy Police Department and booked him into custody at the Santa Clara County Main Jail.
A woman who lived at the impacted house and who did not give her name said she woke up to the sound of the crash and did not even realize at first that her home had been damaged. She wondered if the light pole had prevented the car from crashing into her house.
The woman’s neighbor, who only identified herself as Penny, said the front passenger and the person sitting behind the front-seat passenger were the two men killed in the crash.
The front passenger was lying in the middle of the street for hours before the coroner arrived, and he appeared to be bleeding from his head, she said. She said she did not realize at first that there was a passenger behind him who had been killed.
She said she saw two people run from the car, though police said they only know of one person who fled.
Alexander Street resident Dan Stuckey, who lives just south of the intersection, said he heard someone say, “Come on, homie. Come on, homie,” shortly after the accident.
The Gilroy Police Department Major Accident Investigation Team responded and took over the investigation. The cause of the accident has yet to be determined, Stanford said.
As of Thursday afternoon, Aguirre’s family and friends were “trying to get together, trying to figure out what to do,” Reyes said. Both her sister and her mother had been out to the scene of the accident, she said.
The family, taken by surprise by Aguirre’s death, planned to distribute canisters to local stores to collect money for his services, Reyes said.
Dutchman’s Pizza, 6940 Chestnut St., will hold a charity car wash from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday to help Aguirre’s family, and will donate 10 percent of the day’s proceeds to the family, said owner Jim Shuster.
“He was just a friend of everyone here in Gilroy,” Shuster said. “The guy always had a smile on his face. He was loved by everyone.”
Anyone with information related to the investigation can call Investigator Nestor Quinones at 846-0300. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call the police department’s anonymous tip line at (800) 782-7463.
Reporter Sara Suddes contributed to this story.
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