Victims Of Multi-Fatality Poway Pileup Identified

SAN DIEGO, CA — Authorities have publicly identified three of five people who lost their lives 10 days ago in a fiery pileup on state Route 67 north of San Vicente Reservoir.

Emmanuel Rivera Abarca, 32, Roberto Martinez Oros, 68, Marcial Rivera Solorio, 59, and two other people were fatally injured in the three-vehicle crash, which occurred early on the afternoon of July 18 in the eastern reaches of Poway, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office and Medical Examiner's Office.

Oros was driving to the south at about 12:30 p.m. that day when a northbound Chevrolet Silverado 1500 veered into his path at high speed near Iron Mountain Drive and collided with his Honda Civic sedan, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office and Medical Examiner's Office.

Moments later, a Toyota Tacoma with three people in it also crashed into the Honda.

Oros, a Ramona resident who was by himself in the sedan, died at the scene of the accident along with the occupants of the other vehicles, sheriff's Lt. Colin Hebeler said. It remains unclear which of the two involved pickup trucks Solorio and Abarca were in, though the latter was described as the driver of one of them.

The medical examiner has yet to publicly identify the other two victims of the wreck.

Authorities also have released no conclusions about what caused the pileup, which sparked a roadside brush fire that spread over about a half-acre before crews were able to extinguish the flames.

"Deputies are still investigating what caused the Silverado to cross into oncoming traffic," Hebeler said last week. "They are also reviewing video from a passing car that captured (images of) the collision."

— City News Service