19-Year-Old Killed in Weekend Rollover Crash Near Goleta
A 19-year-old Colorado man died from injuries suffered in a rollover crash on northbound U.S. Highway 101 near El Capitan Ranch Road just west of Goleta just before 2 a.m. Sunday.
The man, whose name will not be released until next-of-kin has been notified, was pronounced dead at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Three other individuals were taken to the Cottage Hospital. Their injuries range from moderate to major injuries. The California Highway Patrol has identified them as 74-year-old Lompoc resident Jean A. Antognini, 19-year-old resident Avalon Jean McFarland of Centennial, Colorado, and a 10-year-old girl from Rochester, New Mexico.
The CHP says the 10-year-old suffered moderate injuries as did McFarland. All four individuals involved were traveling inside a blue 2005 Saturn Vue.
According to the CHP, Antognini was driving was traveling northbound on Highway 101 just south of El Capitan Ranch Road when when she left the roadway and overturned the vehicle onto the dirt and vegetation in the middle of the freeway. Two of the passengers were not wearing their seatbelts, according to CHP, and were ejected before the Saturn came to rest on its wheels partially blocking the left lane of southbound Highway 101.
The Saturn was then struck by two cars traveling southbound on the left lane due to the lack of lighting in the area and the Saturn’s lights no longer working, says the CHP. CHP called those crashes “glancing blows and minor in nature.”
A freeway lane was closed off while crews removed the car from the scene. Traffic was light at the time and was not affected.
The cause of the collision is being investigated by the CHP.