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Authorities have publicly identified the three Dublin High School students who were killed in a car crash Christmas night on Foothill Road in Pleasanton, and the Dublin community will join to honor their memories at a candlelight vigil on Sunday evening.
Javier Ramirez and twin brothers Mark Anthony Urista and Michael Angelo Urista — all 16 years old — died at the scene of the violent crash not far from the Castlewood Drive intersection around 10 p.m. Wednesday. Two other teens — one girl, one boy — were seriously injured and remain in the hospital.
“Our hearts are absolutely broken for our students, families and Dublin High School staff. This is a devastating loss to our community and it is important that we remember to take care of one another during this critical time,” Dublin Unified School District Superintendent Dave Marken said in a statement Friday morning.
“Our entire community is mourning the loss of three Dublin High School students whose lives were taken much too soon,” Marken added. “We’d like to share our deepest condolences to the family and friends of our students and let them know they are in our thoughts during this difficult time.”
The superintendent, who shared the names after speaking to the victims’ families as well as the Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau, also identified Dublin High student Samantha Vargas Arceo as one of the surviving passengers. She remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Family and friends have shared updates on social media about the teenage boy who survived the crash with serious injuries, identified as a cousin of the Urista twins, but Marken did not release the teen’s name publicly on Friday.
A candlelight vigil to “celebrate, honor and remember” the lives of the victims will be held at 5 p.m. this Sunday (Dec. 29) at Dublin High School, located at 8151 Village Pkwy., according to Marken.
Additionally, supporters of the Urista family have launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the families of all the victims; the drive had generated more than $64,000 as of Friday morning.
With Dublin High still on winter break, Marken said the district would offer extra grief counselors and support staff on Jan. 7 when classes resume for the first time after the fatal crash.
The circumstances of the Christmas night crash on a narrow stretch of Foothill Road remain under investigation, according to Officer Tyler Hahn of the California Highway Patrol.
For many current and former Tri-Valley residents, news of the crash has brought to mind other fatal collisions on Foothill from over the years and rekindled conversation about traffic safety conditions on the road that winds through both well-populated and rural portions of Pleasanton down to Sunol. The crash on Christmas occurred on the portion of Foothill that runs next to a hole on Castlewood Country Club’s Valley Course.
The situation unfolded just before 10 p.m. Wednesday with a vehicle with five occupants traveling southbound on Foothill Road just north of the Castlewood entrance road, Hahn said.
According to a witness statement and evidence at the scene, the vehicle crossed into the northbound lane of Foothill Road for unknown reasons and then struck a power pole and a large tree on the side of the road, Hahn said. The force of the crash flipped the vehicle, ejected two of the occupants and trapped three others inside the vehicle.
Three of the occupants, including the driver, were pronounced dead at the scene, Hahn said. The two other passengers were transported to a local hospital with major injuries. The CHP has not confirmed who was driving the vehicle.
The cause of the crash remains unconfirmed, but initial investigation indicates alcohol was not a factor, according to Hahn. Speed may have been a factor, but officers had not yet been able to talk to the surviving passengers to obtain information.
The power pole was severed at its base and upended, causing the transformer to rupture and spilling approximately 20 gallons of mineral oil on the roadway and adjacent dirt shoulder, according to Hahn. An active power line was also arcing near the roadway when officers arrived.
The downed pole caused a power outage in the area. That portion of Foothill Road was closed until late afternoon Thursday for the utility repairs.
Anyone with information about the crash can call the CHP Dublin Office at 828-0466.
To the families affected by this, I want to send my deepest condolences for your heartbreaking losses. And to those commenting on this story, please leave any judgement behind. Three beautiful souls have been lost and two others have a long road ahead of healing physically and emotionally. I send my prayers and love to all those who loved and cared for these young people.
Oh things like this can rock anyone’s faith, there are barely words to try and expres s how heartbreaking for all these families 🙁 to the families of all 3 boys I am so sorry for this pain… 🙁 The only thing that would bring any comfort, any might be hard is those 2 boys that were twins came into this world together, and left to go Home together. RIP to all 3 boys…Incredibly hard to fathom. Godspeed.
Three of the occupants, including the driver, were pronounced dead at the scene, Hahn said. The two other passengers were transported to a local hospital with major injuries. The CHP has not confirmed who was driving the vehicle.
The cause of the crash remains unconfirmed, but initial investigation indicates alcohol was not a factor, according to Hahn. Speed may have been a factor, but officers had not yet been able to talk to the surviving passengers to obtain information.
http://bakerim.com/
To reduce the chances that these accidents will occur again it is important to know why this happened. As someone who ives very close to where this accident occurred here’s what I see almost every day. A percentage of drivers drive entirely too fast, pass on the double yellow line, drive through the stop signs. Others use the road as a drag strip, making tremendous noises and endangering others like bicyclists, joggers and people pulling out of their driveways. This has been especially true during weekends and holidays. Good chance this was way too much speed and distracted driving but we’ll all wait for the investigations’ results. I’ve counted about 9 people who’ve died on Foothill since I’ve lived here. Driving on Foothill won’t kill you but driving irresponsibly can.
@Tom wrote “I’ve counted about 9 people who’ve died on Foothill since I’ve lived here. Driving on Foothill won’t kill you but driving irresponsibly can.”
There have been 10 people killed in auto accidents on Foothill Road in the past 32 years going back to 1987. The last fatal accident on Foothill was about 6 years ago in 2013 when a teen (Cody Hall) speeding on Foothill hit and killed a bicyclist. Of the nine other fatal accidents on Foothill Road going back to 1987, six of the nine accidents involved drunk drivers.
In looking over the accident statistics at the city-data webpage below, it’s interesting to note that the vast majority of the auto fatalities on Foothill Road involved very late night driving and/or drunken driving. With the exception of the 2013 fatality of a bicyclist by a teen driver recklessly speeding at 83 mph down Foothill, there has never been a daylight accident fatality involving a sober driver on Foothill Road in at least the past 32 years.
Source: City-Data Pleasanton accident stats: http://www.city-data.com/accidents/acc-Pleasanton-California.html
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I do not have words to express by sorrow and grief on this incident. I will offer prayers for the departed and for the relatives. May God bless you all.
@Fifty Years
There is a good reason that I chose to consider accidents on Foothill after 1987. As you yourself noticed, numerous accidents in the records before 1987 are missing information on the location of the accident so I decided to use only the records after that year. But even if you want to include the two additional Foothill accidents shown for 1983 and 1982, they don’t argue against my assertion that most fatal accidents on Foothill involve very late night driving and/or drunken driving since one of these two additional accidents involved a drunk driver on Foothill at 1:10 am.
It is an unimaginable loss and cannot imagine what the relatives/friends are going through.
Does anyone know if all the occupants were 16? I thought 16 were learner permits which required an adult licensed driver?
It is important to know the reason. If alcohol wasn’t a factor, speed probably was. Slow down. Most accidents are preventable.
I personally try to avoid Foothill as much as possible. Other drivers, will get on your tail when you try to go the speed limit.
Wombat, I’ve known three people killed in car accidents on Foothill Road, two in the past 32 years, so they “count” in your view, but another killed in 1980 doesn’t make your “count” because you conveniently start counting in 1987. I visited your link, and there are 12 Deaths cited on Foothill Road, not 10, and there are 16 other fatalities that don’t cite the location. I promise you several of those were on Foothill was well.
There’s a small plaque at the base of the flagpole at Foothill’s Football Field memorializing my friend who died in 1980. Every time they’ve done some work on the track or the field there, I try to go down and make sure it’s still there. Last check, yes it was.
I was going to say I’m sorry for coming at you personally, but when lives of people I’ve known are being turned into inaccurate statistics, to try to make a point that is flat out wrong, I’m not sorry at all, I’m pissed! I’m not going to let their lives and memories be trampled by crap like posted above.