Ventura County Sheriff's Department

On February 17, 2009 at approximately 5:15 a.m., a fatal traffic involving two vehicles occurred on SR-126, west of Atmore Road. The collision killed the driver of one vehicle, and injured the driver and passenger of the second vehicle.
Lonnie Paul Gabriel, twenty years of age from Taft California, was driving his BMW eastbound on SR-126 at an unknown speed, west of Atmore Road. Bryon Cruz, 21 years of age and his passenger, Erik Chavez, 25 years old (both from Fillmore, CA) were traveling westbound on SR-126 in a Ford Explorer and were approaching from the opposite direction. For unknown reasons, Gabriel’s BMW swerved out of control through the center median. His car then traveled into the westbound lanes, directly in front of Cruz’s vehicle. Cruz had no time to react and the front of his vehicle broadsided the right side of the BMW, causing major damage to both vehicles. Emergency crews from the Ventura County Fire Department, the California Highway Patrol, and American Medical Response (AMR) responded to the scene. The collision forced the partial closure of SR-126 while emergency crews worked at the scene.
Lonnie Gabriel suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased at the scene by ambulance personnel. Bryon Cruz and Erik Chavez were both transported to the Ventura County Medical Center. Mr. Cruz suffered serious injuries including a broken right leg, while Chavez suffered injuries to his head and chest. The cause of the collision is still under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.