Gilroy postal workers mourned the death of longtime friend and
colleague Steven Vasquez after the 11-year employee of the local
post office was hit by a car last Thursday on the Peninsula.
Gilroy postal workers mourned the death of longtime friend and colleague Steven Vasquez after the 11-year employee of the local post office was hit by a car last Thursday on the Peninsula.
Just before 11 p.m. Thursday, the California Highway Patrol responded to an accident on Interstate 280 just north of Bunker Hill Drive in San Mateo County, said Sgt. Paul McCarthy. According to the dispatcher’s log, Vasquez was on foot in the fast lane of I-280 southbound, where he was struck by a gray BMW registered in Woodside. He was pronounced dead immediately upon arrival of emergency personnel, McCarthy said.
I-280 was closed for about one hour and 20 minutes as a result of the large area of the crime scene, McCarthy said.
An initial review of the scene revealed that Vasquez was probably struck more than once, though police are still trying to determine how many times.
Due to the nature of the collision, police are not releasing the name of the driver, McCarthy said.
“It doesn’t appear that he’s a party at fault,” McCarthy said of the BMW’s driver.
However, police have not yet made a final determination as to whether the driver should have had reasonable time to stop. The accident occurred on a secluded stretch of I-280 that runs between Crystal Spring Reservoir to the west and grassy hills to the east.
Gilroy Postmaster Penny Yates remembered a well-liked, easy-going employee who enjoyed his job delivering the express mail for all of Gilroy.
“We’re stuck in here every day with each other,” Yates said with a smile. “We get to be pretty close.”
Sylvia Zavaleta, a fellow post office employee, described Vasquez as a “happy-go-lucky” man who was into music and loved to dance. After years of eating lunch together, Zavaleta couldn’t even touch her lunch in the days following her friend’s death, she said.
“I cried all weekend,” she said, holding a blurry photo of a smiling Vasquez that had been taped to his locker.
Barbara Baker, a 30-year postal service employee, said she too has been sad to have seen her friend go. A San Francisco 49ers season ticket holder, Vasquez used to swap out some of his tickets for her Sharks passes, she said.
“It’s difficult to cope with when you just saw him the day before,” Baker said. Vasquez had worked the day of his death and was scheduled to be back into work Monday.
Though Vasquez’s seven brothers and sister were not available for comment, Vasquez’s sister-in-law, Lisa Vasquez, said the family will hold a service 9 a.m. Friday at St. Mary Church followed by a reception at Forest Park Inn on Leavesley Road. She said the family was not ready to comment during this difficult time. Postal workers from the surrounding communities will fill in for employees at the Gilroy Post Office so Vasquez’s colleagues can attend the services.
