Coroner identifies 17-year-old killed in Merced County rollover collision

The Merced County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Office has identified a 17-year-old driver killed in a northern Merced County crash as Antonio Romo of Winton, according to Deputy Daryl Allen.

California Highway Patrol officers responded to the collision which occurred just before 10 a.m. on July 3, in the area of Turlock Road and Looney Road, just northeast of Ballico, according to the CHP incident page.

The CHP said the driver was traveling east on Turlock Road in a 2002 Toyota and for undetermined reasons, drifted into the westbound lane and onto the north shoulder. The driver then overcorrected to the right causing the vehicle to overturn multiple times.

According to Merced area CHP Officer Eric Zuniga, the driver was not wearing a seat belt and there were two 16-year-old male passengers in the vehicle at the time of the collision. Both passengers were wearing seat belts. One of the passengers is from McFarland, the other is from Delano.

The front right passenger complained of pain and the rear passenger appeared to be uninjured according to the CHP. Both were transported to a hospital out of precaution.

According to Zuniga, the driver was not ejected but sustained fatal injuries in the collision. “Not wearing a seat belt was a major factor in his fatality,” Zuniga said.

Neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be a factor in the collision which remains under investigation, according to the CHP.