Head-on wreck after chase claims 3rd victim

A woman critically injured Sunday in a head-on collision north of Modesto died today, becoming the third person killed in the wreck.

Heather Miller, 40, of San Leandro died at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, authorities said. She was a passenger in a car that investigators said was rammed by a stolen sport utility vehicle whose driver was trying to evade Stanislaus County sheriff's deputies.

Earlier in the day, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Royjindar Singh released the identities of the two men killed in the crash. They are Brandon Ellis, 20, of Riverbank, a passenger in the SUV, and Steven Jackson, 53, of Modesto, who was driving the car in which Miller was a passenger. The men died Sunday of blunt-force trauma, Singh said.

The crash was on Claribel Road between Coffee and Oakdale roads.

The suspected driver of the SUV, Francisco Martinez, 26, of Modesto, suffered minor injuries and was in custody.

With Miller's death, Singh said Martinez faces three counts of murder, two counts of possessing a stolen vehicle, and a felony count of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

An arrest warrant had been issued for Martinez for failing to check in with his parole officer, Singh said.

A deputy driving to the chase struck a car at McHenry Avenue and Claribel, Singh said. No one was injured in that accident.

Singh said that at 2:18 p.m., someone reported two men suspiciously dropping off one car and picking up an-other on Bangs Avenue near North Star Way in north Modesto. Singh added that the car that the men dropped off was stolen.

Minutes later, two deputies in patrol cars spotted the white Mitsubishi sport utility vehicle described in the area where suspcious activity had been reported. They gave chase east on Claribel toward Riverbank.

Martinez's erratic driving in heavy traffic prompted the deputies to call off the chase within about 40 seconds, Singh said, but the fatal accident had just occurred about half a mile ahead of the deputies' cars.

Singh said Martinez hit speeds of up to 70 mph in a congested portion of two-lane Claribel. He said Martinez was trying to pass a car in his eastbound lane when he hit the black sedan head-on.

"All they had to do was stop," Singh said. "They were in a stolen vehicle; they knew what they were doing."

The black sedan rolled over after the crash, hitting a Modesto Irrigation District power pole. It sat crumpled on the north side of Claribel after the accident while California Highway Patrol investigators searched the scene until about 8:30 p.m., Singh said.

An MID crew worked to repair the power pole, and the CHP planned to reopen Claribel between Coffee and Oakdale after midnight, Singh said.

Singh said it appeared that the deputies in the chase followed department protocol in initiating the pursuit and in moving to end the chase when it grew dangerous. The department's pursuit policy allows deputies to be punished by administrative action if their decisions are found to be negligent during a chase.

Singh said it was unlikely an internal investigation would follow.

At McHenry and Claribel, a sheriff's patrol car showed a dent in its hood and damage to the driver's side door from its collision with a small white car. The smaller car showed more serious damage to its front end, and its front air bags had deployed. Each car was towed about 4:30 p.m.

About 300 people are killed each year in police chase collisions in the United States, and nearly one-third are innocent victims, according to a study by the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center of Seattle, which evaluated National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports from 1994 to 2002.

Bee reporter Adam Ashton contributed to this report. Bee staff writer Eve Hightower can be reached atehightwoer@modbee.com or 578-2382.

This story was originally published December 10, 2007 at 4:12 AM with the headline "Head-on wreck after chase claims 3rd victim."