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Authorities Report Four Fatalities In Local Area
CHP patch

A pair of crashes during the long Thanksgiving holiday period resulted in three deaths on local roadways while a fourth was reported after a man involved in a crash died later at his home.

According to the California Highway Patrol, an early morning high-speed crash into a tree on Greger Street west of Kaufman took the lives of two Oakdale men. That crash occurred on Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 25 around 2 a.m.

The 29-year-old driver of a 2016 white Ford Fusion, identified by the Stanislaus County Coroner’s Office as Jorge Galan of Oakdale, was traveling westbound on Greger Street at a high rate of speed when he failed to negotiate a turn and struck the raised curb, sending the vehicle into a tree and then crashing into a town home east of Wild Stallion Drive. The passenger was identified as Martin Gonzalez, 27, also of Oakdale.

No one in the residence was hurt but authorities said Galan and Gonzalez, neither of whom were wearing their seatbelt, were ejected and declared dead at the crash scene.

California Highway Patrol officers also arrested a 33-year-old Oakdale man Sunday afternoon, Nov. 28 on misdemeanor driving under the influence charges and driving on a suspended license following a two-vehicle crash at Bentley and Kemper roads resulted in the death of an 85-year-old man.

According to the CHP report, the Oakdale man was driving a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck on Kemper Road when a 2007 Toyota Camry, driven by an 86-year-old woman from Modesto, pulled out from Bentley Road directly into the path of his truck. The man swerved but was unable to avoid a collision, striking the Camry on the passenger side.

The truck continued northeast on Bentley, striking a chain-link fence on the east shoulder while the Camry spun until it came to rest on the right shoulder.

The passenger in the Camry, identified as Fredrick Fedora Girard, 85, of Modesto was pronounced dead at the scene while the Camry driver suffered major injuries and was airlifted to Memorial Medical Center.

Passengers in the Chevy, a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old, were uninjured.

And the coroner’s office released the name of an Oakdale man who was involved in a motorcycle accident on Wednesday, Nov. 24 in the area of McGee Road, north of Rice Road. The CHP reported the incident and authorities said the man returned home following the crash and later passed away there. He was identified as Joshua Corrigan, 42, of Oakdale.