Second person dies after two-car collision on Highway 4 in Martinez
MARTINEZ — A second driver involved in a two-car collision on Highway 4 earlier this week has died from his injuries, authorities said Friday.
The wreck on Tuesday happened about 10:40 p.m. in the westbound direction between the Morello and Center Avenue exits, according to a statement from California Highway Patrol Officer Adam Lane. A driver of a Honda Civic died at the scene. The driver of a Toyota Corolla died Wednesday at a hospital.
The crash was the fifth fatal one on the highway in 2023, and the first that has resulted in more than one death. There have been nine fatal crashes on the highway since November 16, 2022, when three children were among five people killed in a head-on collision in Pittsburg.
Authorities identified the Honda driver as 18-year-old Diana Zuniga, of San Pablo. They identified the Toyota driver as 49-year-old Jeremiah Smeby, of Antioch.
Lane said Zuniga drove a gray Honda Civic into the white Toyota that Smeby drove as the two traveled west on the highway. Both vehicles then lost control and went off the highway and down an embankment before slamming into separate trees.
They were the only people in the respective cars.
The fatal wreck was the 36th on the freeway since the start of 2021, and 41 people have died in those crashes.