Patterson Irrigator | Your Local Paper - BREAKING NEWS- BODY IDENTIFIED AS SEVENTH CRASH VICTIM

October 7, 2008 Patterson, CA

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BREAKING NEWS- BODY IDENTIFIED AS SEVENTH CRASH VICTIM

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Written by Jonathan Partridge \| Patterson Irrigator
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Patterson Fire Department this afternoon recovered the body of the final missing victim of a vehicle accident that claimed seven lives along the bank of the Delta-Mendota Canal on Tuesday. Lucas Martinez, believed to be age 19, of Lodi, was recovered about one mile north of Rogers Road from the Delta-Mendota. An anonymous fisherman spotted Martinez's body in the canal about two gates south of Needham Road. Detective David Hickman of Patterson Police Services said the fisherman merely reported that an object had surfaced. Firefighters use a combination of ropes and poles to guide what is believed to be the last of seven bodies from the waters of the Delta Mendota canal Thursday afternoon. Photo by Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator Emergency personnel were dispatched at 2:11 p.m. The fisherman was no longer at the scene when emergency responders arrived, Hickman said. The detective and another sheriff's deputy followed the victim for about a mile and a half before Martinez's body was recovered, according to a sheriff's report. Patterson firefighters were able to stop the body with a rope and a hook along a bridge north of Rogers Road. Patterson Fire Chief Bill Kinnear said shortly after the recovery that it had appeared the body had been in the canal for a while. The finding comes two days after a Ford Explorer containing six farm workers from Lodi and a septic truck driven by Merced resident Luis Llamas Perez collided where the canal intersects Needham Road. Preliminary reports from the California Highway Patrol indicate the Explorer ran a stop sign. The bodies of Eulalia Garcia, 34; Isaac Tapia, 16; Elizar Cruz, 19; and Adan Martinez, 23, were all recovered from the Explorer the night of the accident, and Llamas Perez of United Site Services, Inc. was recovered from the septic truck the same day. A fifth passenger in the Explorer, Adriana Garcia, 17, was recovered Wednesday morning near Shiraz Ranch between Newman and Crows Landing. Explorer passenger Lucas Martinez, 20, brother of Adan Martinez, has remained missing up to this time. Hickman said the fire department removed the man from the water south of where he initially surfaced because the location was safer for rescuers. Though people who have been recovered from the canal in other accidents have remained underwater for days and sometimes months, Hickman noted that the amount of time it takes for someone to surface can depend on climate conditions. "A lot depends on water temperatures," he said. "If it's warm, it will float faster." Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Hits: 371 Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment smaller \| bigger Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.