GILROY
– A 19-year-old Gilroy man was killed just five hours into 2003
when he drove his pickup truck off Hecker Pass Highway and into a
tree near Santa Teresa Boulevard Wednesday morning, headlining a
busy New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day for local police.
GILROY – A 19-year-old Gilroy man was killed just five hours into 2003 when he drove his pickup truck off Hecker Pass Highway and into a tree near Santa Teresa Boulevard Wednesday morning, headlining a busy New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day for local police.
Kenneth Bosworth was pronounced dead on the scene of the accident at 5:09 a.m. just west of Santa Teresa Boulevard, according to police. An autopsy on Bosworth’s body will not be conducted until this afternoon, and right now police do not know whether alcohol or drugs were involved in the accident or if he simply fell asleep at the wheel.
Bosworth was the only person in his 1988 Ford pickup, and he was wearing a seatbelt, police said.
“It was probably the blunt force of the collision which killed him,” said Jim Crawford of the South Santa Clara County Fire District’s nearby station at Bonfante Gardens, who responded to the accident.
Bosworth’s speed at the time of the accident is not known, but the posted speed limit in the area is 45 miles per hour. No other vehicles were involved in the crash, and the road conditions at the time were good, Crawford said.
Road conditions were still good 12 hours later when police responded to another major accident involving a Gilroy man. But this time the man escaped severe injury during a collision with a cement wall on Kern Avenue south of Vickery Avenue and a subsequent car fire thanks to a passerby.
The accident occurred at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday when 31-year-old Salvador Martinez drove his car traveling northbound on Kern Avenue into a cement bridge wall, according to police. Following the collision, an unnamed man driving behind Martinez on Kern Avenue pulled over and dragged Martinez from his 1992 Lincoln minutes before it exploded into a ball of flames, police said.
Martinez was taken by helicopter to San Jose Medical Center to treat a broken right leg and was later released. He was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.
“The first officers to respond said the whole scene smelled like alcohol,” said Terry Mayes, spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol. “It was obvious he had been drinking. He’s fortunate he was pulled from the vehicle when he was.”
Martinez was wearing his seatbelt during the accident.
Aside from the traffic accidents, Gilroy police made 16 arrests between 8 p.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. Wednesday, eight of which were alcohol related.
Four DUI arrests were made in the city on New Year’s Eve, bringing Gilroy’s total DUI arrests to 20 since it began its annual “Avoid the 13” anti-drunk driving campaign on Dec. 13. Last year the city recorded almost twice as many DUIs during the same period.
“We had a lot of calls about loud parties and fights this year, but there was nothing with excessive violence,” said Sgt. Noel Provost of the Gilroy Police Department. “It was one of the busiest New Year’s in the past few years, but luckily nothing too major happened.”
Police are asking any witnesses of Bosworth’s accident to contact officer Frank Bozzo or Mitch Madruga at 846-0350.
