Fresno Woman Killed After Red-Light Runner, Suspected DUI Driver Collide

A red-light runner and a suspected drunk driver collided at the intersection of Clovis and North avenues in Fresno County on Friday evening, killing a 44-year-old passenger and producing a crash in which investigators found fault on both sides.

The Fresno County Coroner's Office identified the victim as Ana Salcedo Jimenez, 44, of Fresno. She was a passenger in a Ford Expedition and died at the scene despite life-saving measures by emergency crews who responded at approximately 6:30 p.m. on April 3.

The California Highway Patrol said the Expedition was traveling north on Clovis Avenue when its driver entered the North Avenue intersection against a red signal. Simultaneously, a Mercedes-Benz CLA250 was traveling west on North Avenue. The vehicles collided in the intersection, causing major damage to both. The Expedition's driver sustained moderate injuries and was transported for medical treatment.

The driver of the Mercedes-Benz, a 24-year-old man, was determined to be under the influence of alcohol and was arrested on suspicion of DUI. Even so, the CHP concluded that the Ford's driver bears primary responsibility for the crash, having failed to stop at the red light. The DUI arrest reflects a separate and compounding failure at the same moment in the same intersection.

The CHP issued a news release Wednesday, five days after the collision, as the investigation remained open. No charges beyond the DUI arrest had been publicly announced at that point, meaning the red-light driver's legal exposure was still being assessed by investigators.

The crash at Clovis and North avenues sits in a stretch of Fresno County where high-speed arterial roads intersect with residential traffic, a corridor that has drawn attention from safety advocates in the past. For Salcedo Jimenez's family, the outcome of two simultaneous failures by two different drivers at one intersection underscores how quickly a Friday evening errand can turn fatal.