Abrupt lane change preceded fatal crash on Highway 99 in Turlock, CHP says
A Turlock man was killed Friday afternoon when his SUV was struck by a speeding car traversing two lanes of traffic on Highway 99.
Julio Lopez, 40, was driving north in the middle lane at Fulkerth Road around 3 p.m. when a vehicle that had been in the slow lane attempted to make a lane change into the fast lane.
According to a news release from the California Highway Patrol, Anthony Silva was driving a 2015 Toyota when he tried to change lanes. The right front of the Toyota struck the left rear of the SUV Lopez was driving, sending the SUV off the freeway and down a dirt embankment toward the Fulkerth Road northbound onramp.
The SUV overturned and then struck a 2007 Dodge on the onramp, driven by Benjamin Rojas, 31, of Turlock.
Lopez was ejected and found lying on the onramp. He was taken to Doctors Medical Center, where he died.
Rojas, Silva and Alexis Clements, 23, of Turlock, who was riding in Silva’s car, were not hurt, the CHP said.
CHP spokesman Officer Tom Olsen said speeding was a factor in the crash but investigators do not know how fast Silva was going.
“You go from the slow lane from the fast lane in one movement, I would determine that to be an unsafe turning movement,” Olsen said.
Authorities are trying to determine if there was reckless driving leading up to the collision.
