Three killed after wrong-way driver causes crash on Highway 99 in Modesto
Editor’s note: The California Highway Patrol’s Modesto office on Wednesday, Jan. 9 corrected information it released on a Dec. 22 head-on collision on Highway 99 north of Pelandale Avenue. It now says Salida resident Terilyn Peralta, driving a GMC Yukon, was going north in the southbound lanes. It previously had identified the driver of the Chevrolet Tahoe as going the wrong way.
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Three people were killed early Saturday morning in Modesto after a wrong-way driver plowed into another vehicle on Highway 99.
The names of the victims have not been released.
At 12:34 a.m., the California Highway Patrol received a report of a collision on the highway between vehicles north of Pelandale Avenue.
The early investigation indicates the driver of a 2004 GMC Yukon, for an unknown reason, was driving north in the southbound lanes of the highway.
Meanwhile, Schwan Taylor, 40, of Empire, was driving a 1997 Toyota with a passenger, Clarence Taylor, 69, of Modesto, inside. An unknown female driver in a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe was traveling behind Taylor.
The Yukon, traveling in the wrong direction, side-swiped Taylor’s Toyota and rammed head-on into the Chevrolet.
Both vehicles burst into flames, which were extinguished by firefighters. The two people in the Yukon, and the woman in the Chevrolet, died at the scene.
It is unknown at this time if drugs and/or alcohol played a role in the collision.
This story was originally published December 23, 2018 at 9:22 AM.
