Woman killed in crash involving tow truck in northeast Fresno, police say

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A woman is dead after a crash involving a tow truck in the middle of a northeast Fresno intersection.

The crash happened before 1 am Wednesday at Friant Road and Shepherd Avenue.

Fresno police say a tow truck was heading north on Friant when it ran a red light and crashed into a car that was making a left turn.

The driver of the car, later identified as 22-year-old Amaya Chenot of Fresno, was pinned in and had to be taken out.

Chenot was pronounced dead at the scene.

The tow truck driver did not suffer any injuries in the crash.

A camera that runs 24/7 in the backyard of a nearby home captured the crash.

Daniel Wells lives right behind the intersection and says frequent accidents motivated him and his son to set up the camera.

Charges have not been filed against the tow truck driver at this time.

"We do know that the person is cooperating with the investigation. If the investigation was to identify that this person violated the law, then criminal charges could be forthcoming. However, that's not the case at this time," said Fresno Police Sgt. Diana Trueba-Vega.

Trueba-Vega says the Shepherd - Friant intersection is one they respond to a lot for traffic accidents.

Wells believes the way the lights are set up could be causing some of the crashes.

The right arrow from Friant onto Shepherd stays green most of the time, which could confuse people who aren't paying enough attention.

Wells wants that changed.

"I think if they ran a blinking or flashing red light for the right turn lane if that was flashing red, then people have to come to a stop and then make the turn," Wells said.

Councilmember Garry Brederfeld doesn't believe the light is an issue.

"I've spoken with public works. They don't see a traffic issue with that green light. Whenever the main light is red, there's a red light above that green arrow. You cannot get confused," said Brederfeld.

Despite all the accidents, the city has no significant changes planned for this intersection.

Officials say they want to encourage people to pay attention when driving to avoid accidents like this.