LIVERMORE, Calif. – A young hospital worker heading home from his shift was killed in a head-on crash on Highway 84 on Tuesday evening. His family is now grieving the loss of their oldest son.
Head-on collision
What we know:
California Highway Patrol investigators said the crash involved street racing and a driver going the wrong way.
21-year-old Ryan Joshua Amigable of Oakley was driving his Honda Civic just after 6 p.m. Tuesday when a Lexus, traveling in the opposite direction, veered into his lane and hit him head-on. Amigable died at the scene.
CHP said the Lexus driver had been racing a GMC Sierra pickup truck westbound on the highway when the crash occurred. That driver was critically injured. The GMC fled the scene, and investigators are still working to identify and locate its driver.
‘I just feel so lost and so broken’
Ryan’s mother, Annabelle Elopre, said she began to worry when her son didn’t come home from work at his usual time. When he didn’t respond to calls or messages, the family started searching online and came across a report of a crash involving a car that looked like his. Hours later, they received the news no parent ever wants to hear.
“I’m just out of my mind,” Elopre said tearfully. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say. I just feel so lost and so broken… to lose my first son.”
She described Ryan as quiet, kind, and deeply loved by his coworkers and friends.
“He doesn’t make any trouble. He’s just to himself,” she said. “He’s loved by everybody at work, of his friends. He did not want to go out anywhere, because he always feels like he’s safe at home.”
Elopre said Ryan was the oldest of eight siblings and had a special bond with his 7-month-old baby brother, Raiden.
She showed Ryan’s bedroom, which is filled with his favorite action figures. It was his biggest hobby.
“He took away my son,” she said of the driver. “I just want some justice for my son. He could still be here by now. He still had a long future ahead of him.”
Ryan would have turned 22 in two weeks on August 1. His family is now planning his funeral.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover the costs. Elopre said the love and support the family has received has been comforting in the midst of their grief.
“Just to hold him tighter, closer, spend more time together…” she said, looking down through tears.
CHP Dublin is searching for a white 2015-2016 lifted four-door GMC Sierra 2500 with black rims, oversized tires, tow mirrors, a receiver hitch, and chrome bumpers. The agency has not determined whether drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash.
