Sylmar Man Is 3rd Fatality of Weekend

A Sylmar man was killed in a crash on California 126 early Sunday, becoming the third person killed on Ventura County roads over the weekend.

Victor Manuel Hernandez, 22, of San Fernando was driving a Mercury sedan about 12:40 a.m. when it veered off the highway just east of Fish Hatchery Road near Fillmore and hit a concrete drainage ditch, authorities said. Passenger Ruben Garcia Ruiz, 34, was killed in the crash.

California Highway Patrol officials said the driver, who was airlifted to Ventura County Medical Center with major injuries, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, involuntary manslaughter and driving without a license.

On Saturday afternoon, Oxnard cousins Miguel Angel Naranjo-Sanchez, 40, and Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Puente, 18, were killed when their Subaru station wagon was hit head-on by a Chevy minivan on 5th Street, near Camarillo Airport.

The two died of blunt-force head injuries, said Mitch Breese, county senior deputy medical examiner.

Naranjo-Sanchez and Rodriguez-Puente, who were farm workers, lived across the street from each other, Breese said.

Carlos Solano, 25, and Maria Magallanez, 30, of Los Angeles and their four children were injured in the collision. Magallanez was listed in critical condition at Ventura County Medical Center, where Solano was being treated for moderate injuries.

Three of the children were being treated at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

The fourth child was released Sunday from St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

The men were westbound on East 5th Street when the minivan drifted across double-yellow lines into the opposing lanes of traffic, CHP Officer H.R. Meza said.

Meza said he is still interviewing witnesses to help determine the cause of the crash.