Modesto, CA, October 10 – A 67-year-old woman died after a vehicle left the road and struck her home Thursday morning in Modesto, according to police. The crash happened near Encina Avenue and Fortuna Avenue around 9 a.m. The car was occupied by two adult women and a 12-year-old child. The woman inside the home, identified as Kathleen Erickson, was found beneath debris and taken to the hospital, where she later died.
Modesto woman dies after car veers off road and hits her home near Encina and Fortuna Avenues
Police said the crash occurred around 9 a.m. Thursday near the intersection of Encina Avenue and Fortuna Avenue in Modesto, when a vehicle veered off the road and crashed directly into a residence. Kathleen Erickson, 67, was inside the home at the time and was found beneath debris from the collision. She was taken to the hospital, where she later died from her injuries.
The vehicle involved was occupied by two adult women and a 12-year-old child. All three occupants were injured in the crash and were rushed to the hospital for treatment. The extent of their injuries has not been released.
Authorities believe the driver may have suffered a medical emergency before the crash, according to police. No further details on the cause of the crash have been made public, and officials have not indicated whether any citation or further action has resulted from the incident.
The identities of the vehicle’s occupants, aside from the information already provided, have not been released. It is not yet known what specific medical emergency may have been involved, whether the home sustained additional structural damage, or what the current condition of the surviving occupants is. Further updates are expected as the investigation continues.
What the at-fault driver is required to carry, and why it often is not enough
Vehicle Code section 16056 sets California’s minimum liability limits, and they changed recently. For a policy issued or renewed on or after 1 January 2025, the minimum is $30,000 for injury to or death of one person, $60,000 where two or more people are hurt, and $15,000 for property damage. Policies written before that date may still carry the older minimum of $15,000, $30,000 and $5,000.
Those are floors, not typical limits, and a single hospital admission can exhaust the lower figure before any other loss is counted. Where the at-fault driver carries the minimum, the uninsured and underinsured motorist cover on the injured person’s own policy is often the part that matters most, and it is worth checking early rather than after the other insurer has made an offer.
The deadline that applies to a claim like this one
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The same two years covers an injury claim and a death claim; there is no separate, shorter period because someone died.
Who is entitled to bring a claim when someone is killed
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides who may bring a wrongful death action. The first group is the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, whoever would take the estate by intestate succession.
A second group may bring the action only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the person who died where the parents are deceased. Parents are in that second group, which is the part families are most often surprised by, because dependency has to be shown rather than assumed.
Talking to someone about it
Culver Legal represents people injured in collisions across California. A conversation about what happened costs nothing, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we win. If we do not win, we do not pass the case costs on to you either.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about any particular case, and the facts of a reported collision often change as the investigation continues.
