4 people injured in crash outside Snelling

Four people suffered major injuries and an infant from Modesto had minor injuries in a three-vehicle collision north of Snelling, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The crash was reported at 4:38 p.m. Saturday on La Grange Road, north of Fields Road, in rural Merced County, the CHP said in a news release.

Officers said Gabriel Alejandrez, 24, of Modesto was driving a 1993 Honda Accord north on La Grange Road. Officers said he “lost control of his vehicle and spun out into the southbound lane” directly into the path of a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado.

The vehicles crashed head-on and Alejandrez was thrown from his car and landed on the road. The front-seat passenger, Alexis Madrigal, 19, suffered minor injuries. A child in the car, 1-year-old Sebastion Valecia, suffered unspecified minor injuries. All three Modesto residents were taken to Modesto hospitals, the CHP said.

Relationships between the driver and passengers could not be confirmed Sunday.

The driver of the pickup truck, 48-year-old Mike Souza of Turlock, and his passenger, Sean Clark, 50, of Clovis, both suffered major injuries. Souza was taken to Memorial Medical Center in Modesto. Clark was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Merced, officers said.

Following the head-on crash, a 2002 Ford that had been traveling behind the Chevrolet, steered to the right to avoid the Honda and the driver in the road, but struck the Chevrolet from behind, according to the CHP.

The driver of the Ford, Steve Melander of Atwater, was not reported to have been injured.

The cause of the collision remained under investigation Sunday. Officers said neither drugs nor alcohol appear to have been factors.

The incident marked the second major collision on Saturday in Merced County. Two Lodi men were killed and another suffered major injuries in an incident involving 16 total vehicles in four separate collisions in the same area of Highway 59, outside Merced.

This story was originally published February 14, 2016 at 11:30 AM with the headline "4 people injured in crash outside Snelling."