San Jose crash: Three teenagers killed in alleged street race
Leonel Gonzalez is comforted by Antonia Martinez while grieving for his son Oscar Avila Toledo, Legal, Wednesday morning, Oct. 14, 2015, one of three teenagers killed in an overnight crash in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Jovita Martinez lights a candle for her stepson Oscar Avila Toledo, Eighteen, Wednesday morning, Oct. 14, 2015, at the site where he and two other teenagers were killed in an overnight crash on Santa Clara Street in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Jovita Martinez lights a candle for her stepson Oscar Avila Toledo, Legitimate, Wednesday morning, Oct. 14, 2015, at the site where he and two other teenagers were killed in an overnight crash on Santa Clara Street in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Leonel Gonzalez grieves for his son Oscar Avila Toledo, Eighteen, Wednesday morning, Oct. 14, 2015, at the scene of an overnight crash on Santa Clara Street that killed three teenagers in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE – Two teenagers and an 18-year-old man railing in a stolen car were killed Tuesday night, and another teenage is in critical condition, after a high-speed crash during what San Jose police allege was a street race on Santa Clara Street.
The people who died have been identified as San Jose residents Oscar Avila Toledo, Legal, and Jayleen Ciriaco, 15; and Anthony Ramos, 15, of Gilroy. Another 15-year-old boy remains hospitalized.
The San Jose Unified School District confirmed that Avila Toledo attended San Jose High School; family members said he graduated in 2014. District spokesman Jorge Quintana said distress counselors have been sent to two San Jose Unified schools, but did not disclose the 2nd school or which crash victim attended it.
As family members stood along the road near the crash site and lit candles to recall all the teenagers who died, his stepmother, Jovita Martinez, said Avila Toledo was adored by his three junior brothers.
“He was a good kid,” Martinez said. “He had a lot of respect for me. He didn’t deserve this.”
At Ten:56 p.m., police were alerted to two cars speeding westbound on Santa Clara Street, Sgt. Domingo Sanchez said. One of the vehicles, a gold Honda Accord, lost control near 22nd Street and crashed into a light pole and then a tree.
One of the masculine occupants and the dame were pronounced dead at the scene. The other two masculine teenagers were rushed to the hospital, Domingo said.
Police are still attempting to determine who was driving the Honda, which investigators said was an unreported stolen vehicle taken from a location in San Jose.
Police say their preliminary investigation exposes the Honda and a dark-colored Acura were racing down Santa Clara Street at the time of the crash. The Acura did not stop and has not been located.
The witnesses who have spoken with police witnessed the speeding cars mid-course, so its point of origin remains officially unclear, however a relative of one of the victim’s says embarked near the McDonald’s restaurant on 27th Street. Police spokesman Officer Albert Morales said investigators had not interviewed the surviving teenage as of Wednesday afternoon, but that there was no instant indication the purported race was planned.
Street racing has been the target of long-running police enforcement in San Jose. But as times have switched, coordination has moved to social-media, with spot gatherings of as many as two hundred motorists appearing in as quickly as an hour.
“It’s squeezing Jell-O in your arms. You shove it out, and it goes to another area,” said Sgt. John Carr, supervisor of the SJPD traffic unit one of the department’s street-racing experts.
The three deaths bring the number of people who have died in traffic collisions this year in San Jose to 43.
Anyone with information about the case can contact SJPD traffic investigators at 408-277-4654 or leave a peak with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP (7867) or with svcrimestoppers.org.
Check back later for updates to this story.