FRESNO COUNTY, CA. (KMJ) The driver who CHP says hit and killed 2 people has been identified as 42-year-old Silvia Maria Gonzales of Tranquillity.
Investigators say Gonzales was intoxicated at the time of the crash.
It happened around 3:10 p.m. at Colorado Road and Sumner Avenue near the city of San Joaquin.
The victims have been identified as husband and wife, 79-year-old Nicholas Flocchini and 75-year-old Janie Flocchini of Tranquillity.
The District Attorney’s Office:
Silvia Maria Gonzales has been charged in a Felony Complaint with two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, as well as other related charges, in connection to Wednesday
afternoon’s deaths of another driver and an infant, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office has announced.It is alleged that the defendant was driving a vehicle under the influence of a drug and caused a collision resulting in the deaths of two individuals near the City of San Joaquin in rural Fresno County.
The Complaint alleges that Ms. Gonzales committed the crimes of:
1.) Two Counts of Gross Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated [P.C. § 191.5(a)];
2.) Driving Under the Influence of a Drug [V.C. § 23153(f)]; and
3.) Possession of Marijuana While Driving [V.C. § 23222(b)].
The complaint contains additional allegations that the defendant personally inflicted great bodily injury,
that the defendant caused bodily injury to more than one victim, and that the defendant used a deadly and
dangerous weapon during the offense (vehicle).
If convicted of the charges, Ms. Gonzales faces a sentence of up to thirteen (13) years in custody.
Ms. Gonzales is expected to be arraigned in Department 31 of the Fresno County Superior Court on
Tuesday, November 12, 2019, at 8:30 a.m.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s DUI Vertical Prosecution Unit.
CHP say the three car crash left one vehicle flipped on its head and the other charred almost beyond recognition – all because someone got behind the wheel, who shouldn’t have.
“The driver of the Honda who rear-ended the Mercedes is under arrest for driving under the influence of a controlled substance.”
All three vehicles that were involved in the crash.
Officers say that both cars were traveling south on Colorado Road near Sumner Avenue when a Honda suddenly slammed into the Mercedes, forcing it into oncoming traffic.
The Mercedes was forced to smash into a truck that was traveling north.
The truck flipped and the Mercedes burst into flames.
When Calfire and the sheriff’s office got there, it was too late.
The flames were too strong. Two people were inside of the car.
“It appears to be an adult and a juvenile passenger,” said detectives.
CHP officers found a container of weed and some rolling papers inside of the car that is responsible for a crash that killed a child and adult near Tranquility in Fresno County.
They can’t say for sure because the bodies are burned beyond recognition.
They can say that marijuana played a factor because they found it and rolling paper inside of the Honda.
