Dublin Mourns 3 High School Students Killed In Christmas Crash

DUBLIN, CA — A community is in mourning as information about three Dublin teens killed Christmas night in a Pleasanton crash continues to come out. Friday the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau confirmed the names of the 16-year-olds who died: twin brothers Mark Urista and Michael Urista, and Javier Ramirez. All three were students at Dublin High School.

Two other teens, Dublin High School student Samantha Vargas Arceo, and another, whose name has not been released, suffered critical injuries in the crash.

A vigil is set for Sunday, Dec. 29 at 5 p.m. at the Dublin High School Quad to "celebrate, honor, and remember the lives" of the three killed.

"Our entire community is mourning the loss of three Dublin High School students. Our hearts are absolutely broken," Dublin Unified School District officials said in a released statement. "This is a devastating loss to our community and it is important that we remember to take care of one another during this critical time."

DHS's athletic director met with students at a soccer practice Thursday night to help the classmates cope with their grief, according to a KTVU report. Dublin United Soccer League said in released statement, "DUSL sends our most sincere condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of the teenagers lost in this terrible accident." Javier was a DUSL player.

Flowers and candles have been brought to the crash site, and a GoFundMe site has been set up for the family of the Urista brothers.

DUSD Superintendent Dr. Dave Marken told KTVU, "Some of the students involved in the accident have other students at the high school, students at the middle school. This will certainly rock our community in a very hard way."

The deadly crash happened shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday on Foothill Road just north of Castlewood Drive. When California Highway Patrol officers arrived, they found three people in the vehicle; two had been ejected. The driver and two passengers were pronounced dead at the scene, while the two other teen passengers were taken to a hospital with major injuries, according to CHP Officer Tyler Hahn.

CHP investigators believe the car was heading south on Foothill Road when it crossed into the northbound lanes, slamming first into a power pole and then a tree. The power lines were arcing when emergency crews arrived, creating a hazard for rescuers.

In a prepared statement, Hahn said, "The sole vehicle involved in this collision had overturned resulting in the roof of the vehicle colliding with a large tree just east of the roadway. The force of the collision trapped three occupants within the vehicle and two occupants were ejected from the vehicle."

The impact from the crash severed the power pole at the base and upended the pole, causing a transformer to rupture and spill about 20 gallons of mineral oil onto the roadway and dirt shoulder, Hahn said. Foothill Road was closed for most of Thursday as PG&E crews repaired the damage.

Alcohol did not appear to be a factor in the collision, Hahn said. A final determination will be made after the coroner's report is completed and officers have further investigated the crash.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the Dublin-area CHP office at (925) 828-0466.

The City of Dublin sends its deepest condolences to the families of those students who perished or were injured in last night’s devastating crash in Pleasanton. We also want to thank the emergency personnel who responded to the scene for their tireless efforts.
— City of Dublin (@DublinPIO) December" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/DublinPIO/... 27, 2019

—Bay City News contributed to this report.

—GoFundMe is a Patch partner