Three area youths – two of them students at local high schools and one a recent graduate – were killed in a collision between the passenger car they were in and a semi-truck late Monday night.
Investigators said the two youths and a young adult relative died of injuries sustained in the collision on Las Positas Road at approximately 10:30 p.m., witnesses reporting a car possibly into the rear of a semi-truck.
All three young men were either attending local schools or had recently graduated according to police, who said one victim was attending Livermore High School while another was a student at Del Valle Continuation High School. The third, a relative of the Del Valle student, had graduated from Vineyard Alternative High School.
Details of the circumstances leading up to the crash were not released, and the names of the victims were being withheld. Police and firefighters responded to a report of a crash in the 5600 block of Las Positas and arrived to find two youths deceased at the scene with the third severely injured but alive.
That patient was transported to a local hospital where he later died of his injuries.
News of the crash reverberated throughout the Tri-Valley area Tuesday, reminding many of the Christmas Day collision that killed three Dublin High students on Foothill Road in Pleasanton last year.
This is beyond tragic. Late adolescence is such a precarious period for young men. During my last couple years of high school and the summer after graduation 20+ years ago, nearly a dozen of current or former schoolmates died. Most of them perished in auto accidents, all of which involved flagrant speeding or reckless maneuvers.
Granted, we don’t know whether that was the case here, but when I read that car with three teenagers crashed after 10 pm, Occam’s Razor points to probable thrill-seeking, impulsive behavior and overconfident bravado. Many lads at that age are, unfortunately, neurologically wired that way. I certainly was, as were my closet friends. We we damn lucky. Many others in our social circle were not so fortunate. Several of those lucky enough to survive faced felony charges and some did serious prison time, constraining their opportunities to attain higher education forever hobbling their career aspirations. There are no winners, and there is no justice (in the literal sense) to be served. Just grieving, broken families and the unthinkable torment of parents outliving their children.
Not a day goes by that I, and many others in our peer group, don’t momentarily hang our heads in sorrow and mull what could have — indeed what SHOULD HAVE — become of our prematurely departed friends.
My heartfelt condolences to all touched by this heart wrenching loss.
Horrible loss for these families. We’re so sorry.
A terrible tragedy right before the holidays. Condolences to their family and friends.