Union City, CA, September 15 – The Union City Police Department reported that a 14-year-old girl who was critically injured in a crash last week has died from her injuries. The collision happened around 8:05 a.m. on September 11, 2026, at Alvarado-Niles Road and Decoto Road, when a silver Mazda and a commercial box truck collided.
Union City girl, 14, dies after crash between car and box truck
The girl was riding in the front passenger seat of the Mazda when it collided with the box truck at the intersection of Alvarado-Niles Road and Decoto Road. She was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. On Monday, the Union City Police Department reported that it had been notified she died from those injuries.
Both drivers remained at the scene after the crash and cooperated with police, according to the California Highway Patrol. Neither has been identified.
The circumstances that led to the collision have not been released. It is not yet known which vehicle had the right of way or whether either driver has been cited.
It has not been confirmed whether the girl’s death has changed the classification of the investigation. No further details about the cause of the crash have been released.
Why evidence in a commercial vehicle case has a deadline of its own
A collision involving a commercial vehicle is not simply a larger car accident. The carrier holds records the other driver never has: electronic logging data, maintenance and inspection history, dispatch instructions and driver qualification files.
Those records are the best evidence of what happened and they do not last indefinitely. Retention periods are measured in months for some categories, so the window to preserve them can close long before the deadline to file a lawsuit does. A preservation demand sent early is the step that keeps them available.
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.
