Modesto, CA, October 1 – A pedestrian was killed early Thursday morning in a collision with a vehicle near the intersection of Claus Road and East Orangeburg Avenue in Modesto, the Modesto Police Department reported. Officers responded to the scene on October 1, 2026, and closed several portions of nearby roadways during the investigation. The department has not released information about what caused the crash.
Modesto Pedestrian Dies After Being Struck by Vehicle on Claus Road
Police shut down multiple lanes of Claus Road while working the scene, according to the Modesto Police Department. Traffic in the southbound direction was blocked near Briggsmore, and the northbound lanes were closed approaching Scenic Drive. The report did not specify how long the closures lasted or when the road reopened to regular traffic.
The Modesto Police Department is the agency investigating the crash and is the source of the details that have been released publicly. No description of the vehicle involved in the collision has been made available. The department has also not indicated whether any citations have been issued in connection with the crash.
Several details about the crash remain unknown. The identity of the pedestrian who died has not been released, and investigators have not said whether any arrests resulted from the crash. The exact time of the collision beyond early Thursday morning has not been disclosed. The Modesto Police Department had not issued further updates as of the time of this report.
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.
