GILROY
– Erin Kinkel’s parents say the accident that killed their
daughter was a
”
stupid mistake.
”
They don’t want another life cut short because someone chooses
to ride unrestrained in the bed of a pick-up truck.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – Erin Kinkel’s parents say the accident that killed their daughter was a “stupid mistake.” They don’t want another life cut short because someone chooses to ride unrestrained in the bed of a pick-up truck.
“I’m sure the kids were having a good time, but a good time doesn’t keep you safe,” her mother, Miki, said.
Erin Kinkel, 15, of Gilroy, died early Sunday morning after being thrown from the bed of a pick-up truck in a single-vehicle accident on Redwood Retreat Road.
Her parents, Miki and Scott, said she and some friends left their Durango Lane house to return some movies in Gilroy early Sunday morning. They left the house around 12:30 a.m. Sunday and Miki told Erin to be home by 1 a.m., an hour past her usual curfew. Miki Kinkel said she figured they would return the movies, pick up a late-night snack and come home.
Miki began to worry when 1 a.m. came and went and her oldest of four daughters didn’t return home.
“She never misses curfew,” Miki said. “She’ll cut it to the minute, but she’s never late.”
Cassie Lopez, 16, was with Erin Kinkel that night. The group of friends, in two pick-up trucks, decided to drive up Redwood Retreat Road before dropping Erin off at home. In the hills west of Gilroy, near Mt. Madonna County Park, the road is unpaved and they wanted to go off-roading.
“We all had pick-up trucks, and we were going to mess around in the dirt roads,” Lopez said.
On the way, Lopez and Kinkel decided to sit in the bed of their friend’s dark gray 1985 Ford F-250, although they could have fit in the cab. The bench seat had room for all four riding in the truck, but only three seat belts.
They had sat in the bed before, she said, but only “a couple of times on the road, around the corner – nothing like that.”
The Ford pick-up followed another truck carrying two friends and headed west on Redwood Retreat. The drivers were not racing, Lopez said.
According to a report from the California Highway Patrol, as driver Anthony McDowel, a Live Oak High School graduate, negotiated a left-hand curve on a narrow portion of the road, he made an unsafe turning movement to the right and the right rear wheel of the truck went off the road. The truck hit a tree on the right shoulder, ejecting Kinkel onto the paved road and Lopez onto the dirt.
Lopez said she remembers little of the accident, but that McDowel was not driving excessively fast.
Kinkel sustained severe head injuries and died while in route to be airlifted to a San Jose-area trauma center. Lopez suffered moderate injuries, including to her arm.
CHP officials did not know if speed was a factor in the accident because the officer who responded to the call has been off duty, although the report makes no indication the driver was speeding. Drugs or alcohol did not contribute to the crash.
“They just decided to be a little stupid,” Miki said.
It is illeagal to ride in the bed of a truck.
CHP Officer Terry Mayes said Redwood Retreat is not a common place for crashes.
“It’s not a common spot that we handle, maybe once a year we’ll handle a crash there,” she said.
Miki said she wasn’t aware that her daughter was going to ride in the bed of the pick-up.
“I never would have allowed it,” she said.
“If anybody wants to honor Erin, they should never do anything like that,” said Laura Gelman, Erin’s grandmother.
