Gilroy: Pregnant passenger killed in three-car crash on New Year’s Day

GILROY — A pregnant woman died in a head-on car crash Wednesday evening after a potentially intoxicated driver veered into oncoming traffic and hit the vehicle she was riding in, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The collision was reported at 6:37 p.m. after a 50-year-old man was seen driving a 2008 GMC pickup truck east on Leavesley Road, east of New Avenue, “at a high speed,” the CHP stated in a news release. The man’s vehicle crossed over into the westbound lane and hit a 2021 Chevrolet SUV.

The pickup driver then hit a 2020 Honda sedan; soon after, a 29-year-old Gilroy woman who was a passenger in the SUV was pronounced dead, the CHP said. Her name was not immediately released pending her formal identification and notification of her next of kin by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.

An initial investigation found that “alcohol may have played a role in this crash,” but the CHP did not indicate whether an arrest or citation was issued in the aftermath.

Anyone with information about the fatal collision can contact the CHP Hollister-Gilroy area field office at 408-427-0700.