Double Fatal Victims Id’d

Mariposa County, CA — The Mariposa County CHP has released the names of the male and female who were killed in a head-on crash on Highway 140 Tuesday afternoon heading into Yosemite National Park.

As previously reported, the accident forced the closure of the roadway for nearly three hours as emergency crews worked to free all three of the people who were trapped inside both vehicles.  The CHP reports that 47-year-old Melissa Ann Carter from El Portal was killed instantly after her SUV crossed the double-yellow lines hitting a van head-on.  The driver of the van, 56-year-old Tony Lane Record from Midpines died on the way to the hospital.  CHP spokesperson Vince Roeber notes that a blind curve may have been a factor in the crash.  He indicates, “The cause is still under investigation.  We are out there looking at the scene and there is a blind curve there.  We want to encourage people to be cautious, especially in light of this accident.”

Roeber recommends drivers always slow down when entering a blind curve so they can stop in case something is in the roadway.  A passenger in Record’s van, 48-year-old Tim Todd Hartley, also from Midpines, suffered a fractured hip and was air-ambulanced to a Modesto hospital.