Teenage Driver Dead, Three Passengers Injured in Solvang Crash
Roberto Garcia Jr., 19, Died from Injuries After Veering off Ballard Canyon Road Monday Night
A Solvang teenager was pronounced dead and three female passengers were injured following a fatal crash on Ballard Canyon Road last night.
According to California Highway Patrol, 19-year-old Roberto Garcia Jr. was driving northbound on Ballard Canyon in a 2005 BMW M3 with three female passengers ages 18-19, when Garcia “failed to negotiate a curve in the roadway” and veered off the right-hand side, crashing the sedan through a metal fence and into a tree before the car flipped onto its roof.
Santa Barbara County Fire spokesperson Captain Scott Safechuck said the call came in around 11 p.m., and when emergency services arrived, all four passengers remained trapped inside the car and required extraction.
Garcia was transported to Santa Ynez Cottage Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead from his injuries.
The three teenaged female passengers were extracted and sustained “major to moderate” injuries, according to CHP Officer Michael Griffith.
Authorities do not believe that alcohol or drugs were a factor in the fatal crash, and said the car was driving at an “undetermined speed.”
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