By PETER CROWLEY and LORI STUENKEL
Staff Writers
GILROY
– A 17-year-old San Martin girl and a 56-year-old Gilroy man
were hospitalized after the vehicles they were driving collided
head-on Tuesday on New Avenue, northeast of Gilroy.
By PETER CROWLEY and LORI STUENKEL
Staff Writers
GILROY – A 17-year-old San Martin girl and a 56-year-old Gilroy man were hospitalized after the vehicles they were driving collided head-on Tuesday on New Avenue, northeast of Gilroy.
The girl received a broken leg and major facial injuries, including broken facial bones, according to California Highway Patrol officers. She was airlifted by CalSTAR helicopter to San Jose Medical Center, where she was in serious condition Wednesday morning. CHP officers did not release her name since she is under 18.
The man, Richard Alan Storrs, took a broken collarbone and wrist to Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, according to the CHP, but Saint Louise officials had no record of Storrs as a patient.
CHP officers are not sure exactly what caused the accident, but they believe Storrs’ 1997 Plymouth Voyager crossed into the opposite lane on the two-lane New Avenue, about .3 miles south of Rucker Avenue. The minivan struck the girl’s 1989 Honda Accord head-on at about 5 p.m. Storrs was southbound; the girl was northbound.
There were no passengers in either vehicle. CHP officers said both drivers were wearing seat belts.
In a less serious crash, a young woman suffered moderate injuries after being involved in an accident with another car Wednesday morning at the intersection of Luchessa Avenue and Princevalle Street.
The woman, who was driving a Dodge Intrepid eastbound on Luchessa Avenue, struck a 1997 Toyota Camry driven by Frankie Martinez-Medina while attempting to make a left-hand turn onto Princevalle Street, according to Gilroy Police.
Martinez-Medina, a student at Gavilan College, was traveling west on Luchessa Avenue around 8 a.m. when he says a SUV made a left turn in front of him from Luchessa to Princevalle. He estimated he was traveling at 40 mph, the posted speed limit on Luchessa.
The driver of the Intrepid attempted to follow, he said, but stopped in the middle of his lane just before the front left side of his Camry struck the front of her vehicle.
She was taken by ambulance to Saint Louise Regional Hospital. It was unclear whether she was a student at Gilroy High School, located two blocks away on Princevalle.
Martinez-Medina complained of pain but was not treated for injuries.
