Family mourns loss after double fatal Visalia crash

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- Family members say a 66-year-old Woodlake man on his way to work Monday morning when he and another person were killed in a head-on collision.

The driver of the other car has not been identified yet. The crash happened in Visalia just before 7 a.m. on Caldwell Avenue near Pinkham Street.

Cornelio Carrasco was an honorable man, according to his son. The family watched the Super Bowl together Sunday and had a great time before the devastating crash claimed his life.

Investigators spent five hours at the scene trying to figure out what led to a deadly collision. Visalia police officers say weather was not a factor when witnesses say a female driving a blue Volkswagen Bug swerved into oncoming traffic, slamming into a Carrasco's GMC Sierra.

Officers are looking into many possibilities. "If it's speed we want to know," Sgt. Greg Byerlee Visalia Police Department said. "If it's distracted driving we want to know or impaired driving. It could be any of those things. It could be an unsafe turning movement, at this point, we don't know what happened here."

Family members say Carrasco was a plumber who was heading to work in Corcoran when his life was cut short. He was also an avid golfer and fisherman.

Detectives say it could take up to a month to combine all the evidence they have collected to reach a conclusion about what happened. "They will collect all that information," Byerlee said. "They will use that with witness statements and the statements and the physical evidence will gel together and give us an explanation of what happened."

So far, it's unclear how fast each of the cars was traveling at the time of impact. The speed limit along the two-lane road is 55 miles an hour.

Officers who arrived minutes after the call came in, said the driver of the Volkswagen was dead and Carrasco died a short time later at Kaweah Delta Medical Center.

The second victim has not been identified.