Modesto, CA, October 10 – A girl died and another remains hospitalized with serious injuries after they were struck by a vehicle while walking in a crosswalk in Modesto on Friday night, according to the Modesto Police Department. The crash happened in the 1100 block of Coffee Road shortly before 8:50 p.m. on October 9, 2026. Police said preliminary findings indicate a southbound vehicle struck the two girls as they were walking to a football game at Downey High School.
Modesto: One Girl Dies, Second Hospitalized After Coffee Road Crosswalk Crash
The Modesto Police Department said the two girls were walking in a crosswalk in the 1100 block of Coffee Road shortly before 8:50 p.m. on October 9, 2026, when they were struck by a vehicle traveling southbound. Preliminary findings indicate the girls were on their way to a football game at Downey High School at the time of the collision.
Officers who had been assigned to the high school football game arrived at the scene shortly after the crash and began performing CPR on the girls, according to police. Both were taken to area hospitals for treatment of their injuries.
One of the girls later died from her injuries at the hospital. Police have not released her name. The second girl suffered serious injuries and remains hospitalized, according to the Modesto Police Department.
Police said the driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators, and that the driver was not found to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. No additional details about the driver have been released.
The investigation into the crash remains ongoing. The identity of the girl who died has not been released, and police have not disclosed further details about the circumstances of the collision or whether any citations have been issued.
What California law requires of drivers around pedestrians
Vehicle Code section 21950 requires a driver to yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing within any marked crosswalk, or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. Subdivision (b) is the one people misread: a pedestrian may walk or run, and doing either does not forfeit the right of way.
Subdivision (c) puts a separate duty on the driver. A driver approaching a pedestrian in any crosswalk must exercise all due care and reduce the speed of the vehicle. That duty applies whether or not the pedestrian had the right of way, and subdivision (d) preserves it: nothing in the section relieves a driver of the duty to use due care for the safety of any pedestrian in the roadway.
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.
