Fresno County, CA, October 19 – A three-vehicle crash at Jensen and Brawley avenues killed a passenger and left six other people injured, the California Highway Patrol said. The wreck happened around 4:30 p.m. when a Ford Fusion, after stopping at a sign on Brawley Avenue, pulled into the intersection and collided with a Volkswagen GTI and a Ford F-150. The Fresno County Coroner’s Office later identified the man who did not survive.
Fresno County Crash at Jensen and Brawley Avenues Kills Passenger, Injures Six
The man who died was identified as Juan Rivera Zepeda, 33, of Tulare, according to the coroner’s office. Zepeda had been riding in the Fusion’s front passenger seat. Investigators said the Volkswagen had been heading west on Jensen Avenue and the F-150 had been approaching from the east when the Fusion entered their path.
Zepeda died at the scene, according to authorities. The Fusion’s driver and two other passengers in the car suffered major injuries and were taken to Community Regional Medical Center for treatment. The Volkswagen’s driver, along with a man and a woman who had been riding in the F-150, sustained moderate injuries and were also taken to a hospital.
The circumstances that led the Fusion to enter the intersection remain under investigation, the California Highway Patrol said. The agency has not released the names of the surviving drivers or said whether any citations have been issued. It also has not said what, if anything, caused the Fusion to pull into the path of the other two vehicles.
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.
