Update: Fatal victim of semi-truck accident identified
CHP releases identification of victim
Family notifications have been made and the CHP can now release the name of the fatal victim from last Friday’s fatal traffic collision on Highway 46 East, between East Centre Street and the Shandon Rest Area.
Jesus Acebedo, 68, from Bakersfield, was driving his 2014 GMC Sierra when he was involved in a multiple vehicle traffic collision. Acebedo suffered fatal injuries as a result of this collision. The investigation into the cause of this collision is ongoing.
Original report:
Five vehicles involved in fatal crash
–One person was pronounced dead after an accident involving five vehicles on Friday afternoon, according to California Highway Patrol. The accident occurred around 2:15 p.m., near the Shandon rest stop. A total of five vehicles were involved. One person was killed in the head on collision. The other four drivers walked away with minor injuries.
60-year-old Charles Celaya of Cheyenne Wyoming was driving a 2014 Peterbuilt semi truck eastbound on Highway 46 near Flower Road. 53-year-old Jeffery Wayne Fisher of Bodfish, California, was driving a Ford F-150 behind the semi truck. 61-year-old Brian Gerard Kelly from Buellton, California, was traveling behind Fisher.
Celaya reportedly allowed the wheels of the semi to drift off onto the right shoulder of the highway, and clipped the side of a Dodge Dakota driven by 49-year-old Alfaro Mendoza of Salinas, popping the left-front tire of the semi. The semi truck then lost control, and drove into the oncoming lane, striking a 2014 GMC Sierra driven by a 69-year-old male who has yet to be identified (pending notification of next-of-kin.) The man driving the GMC succumbed to injuries as a result of the collision.
After the head-on collision, the semi continued to travel out of control and Celaya swerved first to the right and then to the left prior to overturning and coming to rest on its right side west of the Shandon Rest Area. After the impact from the Peterbilt, the Dodge continued out of control into the eastbound lane of traffic where it collided into the Ford and Honda (respectively) with only minor injuries sustained by Kelly.
The construction zone was utilized for a traffic detour, which allowed for State Route 46 to remain open for through traffic. As of 4 p.m., traffic was moving slowly through the area, but was backed up for miles in both directions. The cause of the collision is under investigation by the Templeton CHP office as well as assistance from the Coastal Division CHP Commercial Enforcement Unit. Drugs and/or alcohol do not appear to be factors at this point in the investigation.
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