GILROY
– Barely several hours after learning of the birth of his ninth
grandchild, William Iwanaga died Tuesday of an apparent heart
attack while driving his pickup truck along Buena Vista Avenue in
north Gilroy on his way to a doctor’s appointment at Saint Louise
Regional Hospital.
The accident happened just blocks from the hospital and the land
where he harvested strawberries for 40 years and more than an hour
before medical help arrived at the scene. The family said his
hospital appointment was to do a kidney-related ultrasound.
GILROY – Barely several hours after learning of the birth of his ninth grandchild, William Iwanaga died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack while driving his pickup truck along Buena Vista Avenue in north Gilroy on his way to a doctor’s appointment at Saint Louise Regional Hospital.
The accident happened just blocks from the hospital and the land where he harvested strawberries for 40 years and more than an hour before medical help arrived at the scene. The family said his hospital appointment was to do a kidney-related ultrasound.
Iwanaga, 75, was a longtime and well-known strawberry farmer in Gilroy and San Martin. On Tuesday, some time around 10:50 a.m., Iwanaga suffered what rescue personnel believed to be a heart attack or stroke, losing control of his vehicle as it drove along the road shoulder of Buena Vista, over a drainage ditch and across No Name Uno Avenue.
The pickup stopped after running over the chain link fence of a private property on the northwest corner of Buena Vista and No Name Uno.
A witness soon after called 411 information instead of using the emergency line 911, triggering what was likely a chain of human and technical errors and delays that have some wondering whether Iwanaga would have survived had help arrived sooner.
Paramedics did not arrive on the scene until a few minutes after noon, well over an hour after the phone call. Iwanaga was declared dead after paramedics spent roughly 20 minutes working to revive him.
The county coroner is scheduled to conduct an autopsy today.
Based on statements from the Gilroy Police Department, California Highway Patrol and California Department of Forestry officials, apparently a 411 operator connected the caller to Gilroy police at roughly 10:50 a.m. However, for reasons still unknown, police dispatchers did not relay the call for medical help until 12:02 p.m.
Paramedics from the CDF station at nearby Masten Avenue and CHP officers on patrol arrived on the scene in minutes. Paramedics found Iwanaga hunched over in the cab of his truck and pulled him onto the ground through the passenger door to begin lifesaving procedures.
The medics administered CPR and hooked Iwanaga up to a heart monitor and IV to no avail. Iwanaga’s GMC truck showed little sign of damage, making it apparent the victim was not killed due to the accident.
“There was no trauma to him,” said Sgt. Dave Hill of the CHP. “There was a drop of blood on the front seat and he had a cut on his finger, but we don’t know how that happened. He could have bumped into something when the truck went over the ditch or ran into the fence.”
Gilroy Assistant Chief of Police Lanny Brown said he has launched an investigation into the failed emergency call.
“I don’t know what really occurred. We’ve pulled the dispatch tapes and we’re trying to find out what combination of human and or technical problems made this happen,” Brown said. “We acknowledge we received a call at about 10 minutes to 11 (a.m.). I hope to have an answer to this by the end of the day (Wednesday).”
A friend of the Iwanagas who declined to use her name for this story said the family was not aware of the delay between the call for help and its arrival.
“We aren’t going to make accusations,” the friend said. “We don’t know the facts yet and whatever they are, they won’t help the family right now either way.”
As the Iwanagas welcome new life into their family, they embrace the one they have lost. Today, family members are setting funeral arrangements with Habing Family Funeral Home in Gilroy. Iwanaga died knowing that his new grandson would be named after him. The baby’s middle name is William.
“William Iwanaga was the most easy-going, gentlest man you could imagine,” the family friend said. “He had to raise five boys and he was strict with them. He even made each of them work the fields for a time. As a grandfather, he was so gentle.”
Iwanaga Farms was famous for its popular strawberry stand on Masten Avenue near Marcella Avenue. Iwanaga sold his namesake farm and retired two years ago, enjoying his free time by taking an occasional trip “over the hill” to Tahoe and Reno for casual gambling.
In addition to his five sons – David, Paul, Jeff, Glenn and Warren – Iwanaga leaves behind a wife, Grace, and a daughter, Lisa Sheedy, whose brother-in-law is a sergeant with the Gilroy Police Department.
Lisa Sheedy was one of the first family members and friends to arrive on the scene Tuesday, around 1 p.m. Sheedy, visibly shaken, screamed, “Is that my dad? I want to see my dad” to CHP officers working the scene.
Sgt. Hill and officers Debbie Parra and Jason Page comforted the distraught daughter as other friends and family arrived on-scene later.
“I knew Mr. Iwanaga from around town. I’ve been 18 years in Gilroy. I want to live and die here and it hurts when this happens to someone from the community,” Hill said. “There’s nothing we as officers can really say to the victim’s loved ones at a time like that. All we can do is be good listeners. It’s a terrible situation.”
