Tragedy at Madera barbecue: Two dead after car veers off road and hits Kerman man
A barbecue became a tragedy Friday night in Madera after a man unloading supplies for the event was hit and killed by the driver of a car who also died, the California Highway Patrol reported
The incident took place at Avenue 17 and Crescent Drive.
The CHP said the deaths occurred just before 10 p.m. when a Kerman man attending the event was getting corn from the bed of a Ford F-250 pickup on the south shoulder of Avenue 17, just east of Crescent. That’s when the male driver of a Nissan Altima, headed east, drifted onto the right shoulder and hit the man and the pickup.
The impact killed 42-year-old Arturo Carabez Ochoa of Kerman, according to the Madera County Coroner’s Office. The Nissan then caught fire. Despite efforts to put out the blaze by people at the barbecue, the driver, 22-year-old Gustavo Quezada-Chavez of Firebaugh, also died at the scene.
The CHP said it has not been determined whether the Nissan driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
