Santa Cruz Teen Killed In Triple-Fatal Highway 1 Crash Tuesday Identified

A Santa Cruz teenager who died Tuesday evening after his car was broadsided on state Highway 1 has been identified by the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office as Wuilliam Lopez Florez. The 19-year-old was driving south in a 2000 Buick Regal toward Wilder Ranch State Park when he lost control of the car, most likely because he was speeding, California Highway Patrol officers said.

Lopez overcorrected, crossing over the double yellow lines into the path of a Chevrolet Blazer driven by a 56-year-old woman from Summerville, Oregon. The woman, who was traveling north, crashed into the Regal around 4:24 p.m. A 20-year-old passenger in the Regal, Santa Cruz resident Luis Martinez-Escobar, died at the scene, CHP officers said. Lopez was airlifted to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, where he died around 7 p.m.

The woman was taken to Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz and then flown to Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, where she died around 9 p.m. As of this afternoon, Monterey County coroner's officials had not
located the woman's next of kin to release her name.

By Bay City News

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