A vehicle collision with a tree in central Berkeley early Friday morning left one woman dead and two other occupants in the hospital with serious injuries.
At about 1:13 a.m. Berkeley Police Department patrol officers responded to California Street, just north of Allston Way, where a Cadillac had struck a tree, according to a press release from BPD spokesperson Sgt. Mary Kusmiss.
One of the occupants of the vehicle — 22-year-old 2012 UC Berkeley graduate Milanca Lopez, as identified by her family — was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other occupants — a male driver and Lopez’s young son, Xavier — sustained serious injuries and were transported to local hospital trauma units, according to Kusmiss.
Berkeley Fire Department personnel also responded, and the BPD Fatal Accident Collision Team began their investigation of the scene shortly thereafter, according to Kusmiss.
“The evidence at the scene suggests that the Cadillac was traveling northbound on California Street when it struck the roundabout at the intersection of Allston, then collided with the tree on the east side of California Street just north of Allston Way,” Kusmiss said in a press release.
Associate Director of University Village in Albany Tavie Tipton said she received a call from someone from the UC Berkeley campus Friday morning telling her that the three victims were a family that currently lives in the village.
University Village housing is reserved for UC Berkeley students and their families.
About 80 people attended a vigil for Lopez at Presentation Park on Sunday. Friends and family gathered in front of the tree the car collided with and created an altar adorned by flowers and paper cranes with prayers written on them.
Lopez’s family members, who live in Southern California, said they flew up to Berkeley last week to celebrate her graduation. They said they did not expect to return so soon, this time under grim circumstances.
Rue Mapp, a UC Berkeley alumna and former University Village neighbor of Lopez, attended the vigil with several other neighbors and said Lopez was the most generous person she knew and that she was a renaissance woman, excelling in math, cooking and parenting.
“Cal should have been proud to have a student like Milanca,” Mapp said. “She definitely changed our lives.”
This incident marks the second fatal collision in Berkeley this year. A young man on a skateboard was struck by a car at Marin and Tulare avenues in North Berkeley on Jan. 30, resulting in the young man’s death.
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> No one disagrees with you STAN in that it is
> wrong to drink and drive,
or to risk the life
> of your loved ones by putting them in this
> type of
situation, but the reality is 1) you
> don’t have all the facts and so you
should
> shut up 2) It is the wrong time to make these
> comments when
someone’s daughter just died,
> and to show a lack of sympathy for the
family
> and regret for what happened.
For starters, it’s a free country, Carlos, and I can make and g-ddamned comment I want. Got it?
Second point: people die in alcohol-related accidents all the time because people with screwed-up priorities like you are more worried about being “sensitive”, “politically correct”, whatever than having the presence of mind to say “No, you’re not driving in that condition, and I’m not getting in the car with you, and I’m calling the cops if you drive drunk”.
Third and final point: while I never said that any racial/ethnic group has a monopoly on irresponsible behavior, it’s a known fact that DUI is a significantly greater problem in the hispanic/latino community than with other groups. That is in fact supported in numerous studies on the issue, and one of the reasons that the Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies have developed programs to try to deal with this issue and get the message out to the hispanic community about the problem. However, instead of dealing with the issue, so-called representatives of the “community” such as La Raza and the usual suspects instead accuse those police departments 0f “racism” and “profiling” and actively campaign to shut down DUI checkpoints. Sorry to make you cry, but the fact is that people in your community act irresponsibly, killing and maiming their own, but you don’t think it’s right to bring any attention to it, because it might interfere with your own agenda.
It is free country Stan and you can say whatever you want. But that doesn’t stop me from laughing at the likes of you! I am a proud Latino and regret that this problem is more prevalent among our population. I and others in this forum (I am sure the family of the injured as well) do not blame the accident on the tree they crashed onto, the system, or anything else, but I don’t appreciate the comment about the ‘tree not having the fault’ whether the people in the accident were Latinos, Whites or Blacks.
By the way, I am open to dialogue about irresponsible actions taken by any group of people, without taking offense, I promise. I am a Scientist, and therefore I like to have discussions based on facts. Just for the record, I am not crying; I am laughing because you have amused me so much with your comments full of anger and stereotypes! Thank you!
You just admitted that DUI is more common in the Latino community (not that whether you admit it changes what is a fact), so why are you laughing at Stan for saying just that?
You admit there is a problem, yet you refuse to criticize it or urge your fellow Latinos to take action against it or take action against it yourself. You say you’re proud to be Latino, yet you don’t care enough about your own people to criticize them when they engage in behavior that hurts them much more than it hurts anybody else.
Wow, I can’t believe anyone would be against the DUI checkpoints. Obviously they are a necessity, since a lot of people (regardless of race/ethnicity) are irresponsible. I’d rather be delayed 10-15mins by a checkpoint in the evening, than get killed by a drunk driver.
La Raza thinks they are discriminatory.
“At the end of the day a child is left without a mother and that child is fighting for his life. ”
And whose fault is that? The irresponsible mother and drunken boyfriend, or the people posting comments you don’t like? Fact of the matter is there is genuine outrage over this incident, but you would rather sweep it under the rug because it interferes with the rose-colored picture you and the misguided supporters of these two losers are trying to paint for the rest of the world. Get it through your thick skull. The driver was a reckless drunk, and the mother wasn’t fit to have a child’s life entrusted to her – and all the posthumous eulogizing and honorary awards will never change that fact.
The driver of the vehicle, Jose Lumbreras, is a PhD student in ethnic studies.
He had a blood alcohol level of 0.219 and was driving 64 mph.
http://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/graduate/profile.php?person=117
I think we can safely conclude that Physiology and Driver’s Ed aren’t prerequisites for the Ethnic Studies program…
RIP my good friend. You will always be in our hearts. Thanks for all the great memories.
I hope with all sincerity that your reference to your “good friend” was that poor innocent little kid Xavier. I would be embarrassed to call either of those irresponsible adults “friends” if I were in your shoes.
Remember to keep your speed to 25 mph and under in the residential areas and wear your seat belts so this doesn’t happen to you. Stay safe Cal students.
lol,
don’t drink and drive is more like it.
Since they hadn’t mentioned the condition of the driver, I figured I would just go general. If the driver was drinking and driving with the kid and spouse at 1:30 AM, then the driver is a complete moron and loser.
Looks like this was a case of drunk driving :(
http://albany.patch.com/articles/man-charged-in-fatal-berkeley-crash-involving-village-mom-son
oh, he was drunk all right:
http://berkeley.patch.com/articles/driver-in-deadly-solo-crash-arrested
I would be curious to learn Milanca’s blood alcohol level. Having your six year old in the car after 1AM, while your completely hammered boyfriend does above 60 in a residential street, does not make her seem like the mother of the year.
I would be curious to know what you get from being a pretentious anonymous commentator on a tragedy that has affected hundreds of people. At the end of the day a child is left without a mother and that child is fighting for his life. Her decisions are not for you to judge. Ho would you feel if, God forbid, you found yourself affected by something like this and someone posted some insensitive crap like your comment? Check yourself.
I hope social services gets to you before you hurt your children. Her decisions are for us as a society to judge. You put your child in a car with a drunk driver, and you have lost all your rights to be judgement free. Check yourself before you hurt a child.
Milanca was indeed mother of the year, I saw her with Xavier and she put him first. She was probably picking him up from babysitting…. whatever the case, she was a good mum. I saw it first hand.
She is partially to blame!
to queeche:
Thank God our (non-mother-of-the-year) moms didn’t pick up from babysitting for crazy rides in the residential neighborhoods.
To Afeev:Shit happens, people fuck up, and sometimes the one time you
do, you and your son both die…. the one incident (whatever the
details are) don’t describe her parenting overall. What she did was
silly and the consequences were disheartening but she was a good mom ere
the incident.. not that you care about that.
Putting your son in the car with a completely hammered driver is not a silly action.
To Afeev:Shit happens, people fuck up, and sometimes the one time you do, you and your son both die…. the one incident (whatever the details are) don’t describe her parenting overall. What she did was silly and the consequences were disheartening but she was a good mom ere the incident.. not that you care about that.
And thanks for that wonderful example on how small minds rationalize irresponsible behavior with comments such as “shit happens”, “we’re all going to die anyway”, et. al. All you’re doing is illustrating the self-destructive, defeatist attitude of Mexican machismo culture. Maybe hopping in a car with drunks is considered “good parenting” where you come from, but most people don’t find that as an acceptable attitude.
Well, I think it’s safe to conclude that the tree wasn’t at fault.
Your comment isn’t even remotely funny.
Notice that you couldn’t point out anything factually incorrect.
Stan, I see your comments on multiple articles regarding this matter with your wanna-be display of intellectual wit. Please get a life. Regardless of what is factual, display an understanding of what respect is.
You’re the one defending a drunk driver and a negligent mother. You’re the one who needs to get a life here.
I agree with you CG! Stan de San Diego thinks he is a genius in the art of argument, but regardless of how smart he is (probably not very), he is just insensitive. No one disagrees with you STAN in that it is wrong to drink and drive, or to risk the life of your loved ones by putting them in this type of situation, but the reality is 1) you don’t have all the facts and so you should shut up 2) It is the wrong time to make these comments when someone’s daughter just died, and to show a lack of sympathy for the family and regret for what happened.
Assumptions are an argument killer- If anything was defended it was respect. There’s a time and place. Everyone look at Stan, he’s awesome, round of applause, all righteous being.. he obviously needs the attention. I’m sure you really make a difference in communities through your comp keys on blogs.
Hi, Chuck. Didn’t you just post as Helen a few minutes ago? I guess Gender Reassignment Surgery goes much faster these days. LOL!
The comment definitely is not funny. But what must be is Stan De San Diego’s IQ. Hope nothing like this ever happens to you or one of your loved ones. You probably think it never will happen, because you are so smart and righteous. Remember, however, how we see ourselves is much different than how others perceive us, and I think you are an idiot!
> Hope nothing like this ever happens
> to you or one of your
loved ones.
Given that I observe the “one drink per hour” rule of thumb for the metabolization of ethyl alcohol, insist that everyone in my car wear seatbelts, and won’t get in a car with an intoxicated driver, it won’t. But keep pretending that grown adults aren’t responsible for their actions in your circles, and wonder why people keep on dying needlessly in automobile accidents. Your choice.
Hell, it’s Memorial Day out there and the CHP and county mounties are out in force. They will set up checkpoints and bust anyone who blows 0.08. I’ll pick up my sixer of Sierra Nevada and do my drinking at home. I can’t imagine anyone thinking they can get away with racing down a street at o-dark-thirty with a 0.20 BAC. Some people just don’t get it.
You sound like you are more angry about other commenters than the idiot who killed this woman.
I truly hope that Stan and Tony are the same person, different alias. I’m sure there’s no room in the world for two folks of this caliber of ignorance.
You mean the same way Helen, Chuck, and Angela B. are the same poster, which can be easily determined by clicking on your avatar? LOL!