A Mountain View native was killed in a car crash early Sunday morning after a drunk driver going the wrong way on Highway 85 slammed into him head-on, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Juan Pena Jr., 37, was born and raised in Mountain View and graduated from St. Francis High School in 1987, according to his sister, Lydia Pena-Sherrill. He was pronounced dead at the scene after the 2:30 a.m. crash.
“We want the public to know about the totally preventable tragedy that drunk driving can cause,” Pena-Sherrill told the Voice. “I feel like my brother died in vain.”
According to the California Highway Patrol, 28-year-old Nicole Rodriguez, of San Jose, entered the southbound lanes of Highway 85 at or near South De Anza Boulevard and began driving north. She traveled for about four miles, officers said, before crashing her Ford pickup head-on into Pena’s Mazda coup near Fremont Avenue in Sunnyvale.
After the initial crash, the spinning vehicles and flying debris hit two other southbound cars. Those drivers weren’t hurt, and Rodriguez was taken to Stanford Hospital with minor injuries before being arrested. The highway was closed until about 6:10 that morning.
Rodriguez has been booked into Santa Clara County Jail on felony drunken driving and manslaughter charges, as well as misdemeanor wrong-way driving.
Visitation for Pena is being held this Thursday, March 23, from noon to 9 p.m. at the Cusimano Family Colonial Mortuary in Mountain View; this includes a Vigil and Rosary at 7 p.m. at the mortuary, located at 96 W. El Camino Real. A funeral Mass was scheduled for Friday, March 24, at 9:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Church in Mountain View.
Photographs of Pena can be viewed at www.sherrill.us/juan.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
