Pleasanton-Dublin Reels After Christmas Day Crash Leaves Three Teens Dead, Two Injured

Three teenagers – two twin brothers among them – died Christmas night after a Hyundai with five youths aboard crashed near the Castlewood Country Club outside of Pleasanton.

A family member said twins Mark and Michael Urista, 16, both died in the crash, reported just before 10 p.m. Wednesday on northbound Foothill Road north of Castlewood Drive.

A cousin, Jared, is currently in Intensive Care, according to a note published by the boy’s mother.

The brothers and the driver of the Hyundai were killed in the crash. A teenage girl and Jared were both ejected and taken to a local hospital for treatment of injuries ranging from major to life-threatening.

Friends and family members said the five were students at Dublin High School, with the boys spending Christmas with family before retrieving the unidentified teen girl – who the boy’s mother said had told them was having a bad day.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. John Dyer expressed his agency’s condolences to families of the dead and injured, and said an investigation into the cause of the crash is underway.

Dyer called the loss “terribly sad.”

Investigators said the Hyundai was southbound on Foothill when for reasons unknown the driver crossed over the center line, splintered a power pole and impacted with a tree. An estimate of speed at the time of the crash has not been ascertained.

Foothill Road was closed for a good part of the day Thursday as investigators worked the crash site and a PG&E crew repaired the damaged pole.