Nov 17, 2008 12:10 am US/Pacific
Crash Kills 4 Napa Students; Pair Charged With DUI
ST. HELENA (CBS 5 / KCBS / BCN / AP) ―
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Fatal crash scene late Saturday night on Deer Park Road near Sanitarium Road just north of St. Helena.
CBS
Four Napa Valley college students were killed late Saturday night in a head-on collision involving three cars that resulted in two drivers being charged with drunken driving, the California Highway Patrol said.
The crash happened about 11:50 p.m. on Deer Park Road near Sanitarium Road just north of St. Helena.
The victims, four young men, all attended Pacific Union College, a Seventh-day Adventist liberal arts college in Angwin. They were Boaz Pak, 20, Luke Nishikawa, 22, Simon Son, 19, and Chong Shin, 20, a college spokeswoman said Sunday.
Friends of the students said the four men had just finished playing basketball at the college gym and were on their way to a Safeway grocery store in St. Helena to get something to eat prior to the collision, Pacific Union College's Julie Lee said.
CHP Sgt. Trent Cross said the four students were headed west on Deer Park when the driver lost control of a speeding black Honda Civic, crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with a Toyota T100 pickup truck. A white Honda Civic then rear-ended the truck.
Pak, Nishikawa, Son and Shin were all pronounced dead at the scene, Cross said.
The driver of the pickup truck, 28-year-old Sandallo Martinez, was critically injured and airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he was later upgraded to stable, Cross said.
Martinez as well as the driver of the white Honda Civic, 20-year-old Carlos Ortiz, appeared to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, according to Cross.
Ortiz, who suffered only minor injuries, was arrested for drunken driving and lying to a peace officer. Martinez, who remained at the hospital Sunday, was also facing DUI charges, said Cross.
A preliminary investigation indicated speed was also a contributing factor in the collision, according to Cross.
All four men killed in the crash were said to be well known on campus at Pacific Union, which is a four-year institution with approximately 1,400 students.
"The PUC community mourns the loss of four wonderful young men who were already giving service back to the community," Pacific Union College President Richard Osborn said. "Our entire campus is grieving along with their families. But as a faith based college, we have hope that springs from our beliefs as we celebrate all these young men accomplished in their brief lives."
On Sunday, students met with grief counselors, and the campus chaplain offered support groups and one-on-one counseling, the school said.
Nishikawa was from Honolulu, Hawaii, and majored in American History.
Pak majored in biology and pre-pharmacy and came from Hidden Valley, Calif. Son was also from Hidden Valley and was a nursing major.
Shin was a business administration and pre-dentistry major and was from Aloha, Oregon, according to Lee.
The school said Shin served in a youth ministry at the Rohnert Park Korean Seventh-day Adventist Church, and that Nishikawa was the leader of a campus outreach program, Homeless Ministries.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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