Five killed in collision with tanker truck in Harnett

Car's driver ran stop sign, trooper says

BENSON -- Five people were killed and two others were injured in a multi-vehicle accident between Coats and Benson in Harnett County, the state Highway Patrol said Saturday.

The five people who died -- three males and two females -- were all in a black Honda Accord that was crushed by a gasoline-filled tanker truck at the intersection of Old Fairground Road and N.C. 27, Trooper Greg Steffens of the patrol said. The accident happened about 11 p.m. Friday. One of the dead women was pregnant, police said late Saturday.

The Accord, traveling south on Old Fairground Road, ran a stop sign at the intersection and crossed into the path of the truck, which was headed west on N.C. 27. The truck ran over the Accord, and the two vehicles crossed the center line together, hitting an Oldsmobile station wagon that was headed east on N.C. 27, Steffens said.

The dead were: Esteban Isidro, 22, of Riverford Drive in Raleigh; Ashley Martinez, 17, Norma Martinez, 15, and Germain Chavez, 25, all of Denning Road in Angier; and Jorge Gallardo, 23, of Foxhall Village Road in Raleigh. Ashley and Norma Martinez were sisters, and Ashley was pregnant, Steffens said.

Isidro was the driver.

The victims all died at the scene, which is about two miles west of Benson near the Johnston County line, Steffens said. The tanker did not explode, nor did it leak gasoline.

"The tanker truck literally crushed the vehicle," Steffens said. "It was unrecognizable as a vehicle. It was a non-survivable collision."

Kimberly Jones, 18, of 225 Adams Road in Benson, the driver of the station wagon, was taken to Betsy Johnson Regional Hospital in Dunn, where she was treated for a broken ankle and a broken collarbone, Steffens said. She was released Saturday.

The driver of the truck, identified as Ronnie Vanatta Jr., 41, of Pikeville, was treated at the scene of the accident for minor injuries.

Troopers are still investigating the wreck. Steffens said an autopsy of the Accord's driver will determine whether alcohol was involved.

"The boy never tried to stop," he said of the driver.