Hanford teen killed in crash on the night before prom

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A teenage girl is dead and two others are in the hospital after a car crash late Friday night in the South Valley.

The girls all attended Hanford West High School and the accident in Armona happened the night before the school prom.

Authorities say the driver of the car drifted off the road on Front Street and clipped the guide wire of a power pole. The car spun and struck the top of a brick and steel fence, killing 17-year-old Sierra Valenzuela.

When the car spun out of control it slammed into a tree and landed just feet away from the home of Celia Velasquez who was inside along with her kids.

"There was one that was driving," she said. "She was bleeding from her arm. The other girl, they were trying to get her out and she had a broken arm. The one in the bank, they were trying to (reach her) and they couldn't."

Valenzuela's brother says Sierra was a junior at Hanford West.

Neighbor Nicolasa Alvarez is CPR certified and rushed over to help, but she saw that Valenzuela was in worse condition than the other two victims.

"When I took her pulse and another guy took her pulse, she had a very, very weak pulse," she recounted.

Sierra was transported to the hospital where she later died.

The other two girls, one 16 and the other 17, were taken to Adventist Medical Center with minor and major injuries.