Family of man accused in fatal crash: mechanical problem caused accident
By Leslie Griffy
Mercury News
Article Launched: 08/07/2007 04:52:11 PM PDT
The family of the man accused of causing a deadly, fiery crash on Interstate 280 last month says he wasn't intentionally driving at speeds over 100 mph, but rather had a mechanical problem that caused an accident that killed a San Jose man.
California Highway Patrol investigators will examine the car next week, officer Todd Thibodeau said. Officials intend to ask the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office to charge 68-year-old Guadalupe Gomez with vehicle manslaughter with gross negligence, Thibodeau said.
Gomez, the CHP charges, drove at speeds of more than 100 mph in rush-hour traffic on the morning of July 26. His Camry rear-ended one car, sending it into the median and injuring its driver, before it smashed into a Honda Accord driven by a 39-year-old father of five.
The Honda spun around near where the interstate crosses Race Street in San Jose. It burst into flames, killing Troy Edwin Johnson.
Witnesses reported seeing Gomez speeding southbound on the highway and using both shoulders to pass other cars for at least eight miles, Thibodeau said.
Gomez's brother, Ramon Gomez, said the behavior described in media reports of the crash sound nothing like his brother.
"He's never been a bad person. He's never been a bad driver," Ramon Gomez said.
His brother, who goes by Lupe, is at home recovering from a broken arm he suffered in the crash.
"He said he got on the freeway and that thing just started accelerating," Ramon Gomez
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said as he recalled a conversation with his brother. "He tried to brake. He threw it into the neutral. He said if he didn't dodge and weave those other cars he would have crashed much earlier on. He told me he looked at the speedometer and it was going over 130 miles an hour."
Some witnesses to the crash reported that they thought they had seen smoking coming from the car, the brake lights flashing and the emergency lights on. Others said they didn't remember seeing those distress signs from the car as it whizzed along the highway.
Johnson's family is still reeling from the crash. Because of the fire, his body could not be identified without DNA. The process has delayed his body's release, the mother of three of his daughters, Melody Johnson, said.
Contact Leslie Griffy at
lgriffy@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5945.
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