Merced collision kills driver, critically injures passenger, both Modesto High grads

Authorities are investigating a Merced traffic collision that killed one woman and critically injured her passenger. Both women were Modesto High School graduates, according to Ramiro Colunga, uncle of the driver, 27-year-old Christina Soltero.

About 7:49 p.m. Monday, officers responded to the 800 block of West Olive Avenue for a report of a collision involving an overturned vehicle, according to Merced police Sgt. Nathan McKinnon.

They found a white Toyota Camry in the median on its roof and partially on top of a light pole. Investigators believe the Camry was traveling west on West Olive Avenue when a tan SUV, driven by a 21-year-old man with an adult male passenger, turned right onto Olive from a parking lot near the Merced Mall.

McKinnon said it appears the SUV crossed multiple lanes after turning onto Olive and sideswiped Soltero, leading the Camry to overturn. The car slid before striking the light pole and further overturning onto its roof.

Medical personnel in a transport vehicle driving past the collision stopped to assist the motorists involved, according to McKinnon. Soltero and her passenger, whose name has not been officially released, had to be extricated from the car. Colunga said the passenger is his niece’s girlfriend, also 27 years old.

The passenger was flown to an area trauma center for treatment of critical injuries, while Soltero was taken to Mercy Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Soltero grew up in Modesto but moved to Merced recently, her uncle told The Bee in an email. He called his niece “a big ray of sunshine” and said she was loved and “was an influential person in our family lives.”

Soltero graduated from Modesto High in 2014 and this spring graduated from San Joaquin Delta College.

Delta College instructor and counselor Daniel Fernandez, who created a GoFundMe.com page for his student’s funeral expenses, said on the page that Soltero “had just finished her first semester at CSU, Stanislaus with a 4.0, majoring in Criminal Justice and had career aspirations of working in law enforcement upon graduation.”

“Christina is in heaven looking down on us,” her uncle said, and Soltero’s family is praying for her girlfriend, who “is still fighting for her life.”

Authorities said neither of the SUV’s occupants — both are residents of Yosemite National Park — reported any injuries. The driver of the SUV remained on scene and was cooperative with police. According to McKinnon, an unsafe turn appears to be a factor in the collision, which remains under investigation.

Anyone with information regarding the collision is asked to call McKinnon at 209-388-7753.

This story was originally published June 8, 2023 at 8:18 PM.