Three Teens Killed, 1 Injured In San Jose Street Racing Crash
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- Three teens were killed and another is in the hospital after a horrific crash late Tuesday night in San Jose.
The victims have been identified as 15-year-old Jayleen Ciriaco and 18-year-old Oscar Gonzalez, according to the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office.
Officers responded at 10:53 p.m. to the area of Santa Clara and 22nd streets on a report of a crash and located a gold Honda Accord with major damage and multiple people inside with serious injuries, police said.
The intersection is roughly a mile east of San Jose State University.
Medical crews arrived and pronounced two of the victims dead at the scene. Two other injured juveniles were transported to a hospital, but one of them later died, police said.
Police said a preliminary investigation revealed the Honda and an Acura were racing west on Santa Clara Street when the Honda lost traction and spun out, striking a pole and spinning into a tree on the curb.
The Acura fled the scene and has not been located.
The Honda was an unreported stolen vehicle out of San Jose, police said.
Gonzalez's relative Melanie Martinez was shocked by the news.
"It's not his character," she said. "When we heard it was a stolen car, we couldn't understand why, you know what happened, who's at fault, or anything. It's just, you know, probably teenagers being kids, I don't know ... he's a good kid."
Ciriaco and Gonzalez were San Jose residents, according to the medical examiner's office.
The identity of the third victim who died has not been released.
Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call the San Jose Police Department's traffic investigations unit at (408) 277-4654 or Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at (408) 947-7867.
TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bay City News Service contributed to this report.
