Last Updated on January 9, 2023 by CCAR Staff
SAN BERNARDINO >> The San Bernardino County Coroner’s Office has identified the two men killed in a fiery crash Monday morning in San Bernardino have been.
They are Alejandro Peyro, 26, of Colton and Rudy Javier Vargas, 30, of San Bernardino.
• Photos: Men identified in San Bernardino double-fatal crash
Just before 5 a.m., Peyro was a passenger in a silver Mustang driving east on Rialto Avenue near Mt. Vernon Avenue when the Mustang was broadsided by a black Honda Accord traveling at nearly 100 mph north on Mount Vernon Avenue. When the two collided, the impact was so violent, it knocked the engine out of the Mustang and sent both cars through the fence of an automotive alternator shop, slamming into the wall of the business.
• Video: Two killed in high-impact San Bernardino crash
Peyro and Vargas died at the scene. The driver of the Mustang suffered moderate injuries but is expected to survive.
Peyro and his friend were on their way to work in Redlands when the crash took place, said Peyro’s fiance, Sarah Sillas, Tuesday.
According to San Bernardino police, Vargas was fleeing from a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy shortly before the crash took place.
• Photos: San Bernardino crash sends motor flying from one car, 2 killed
The crash took place just before 5 a.m. near Mount Vernon and West Rialto avenues, San Bernardino police said.
• Video: Fatal San Bernardino pursuit crash caught on surveillance video
The crash started as a pursuit at the border of Colton and San Bernardino near South Mount Vernon Avenue and North La Cadena Drive, said Lt. Rich Lawhead.
A sheriff’s deputy had attempted to stop a black Honda, but it sped away. The deputy discontinued the pursuit at West Mill Street and Mount Vernon Avenue, Lawhead said.
“The deputy could see a puff of smoke in the distance and believed that the vehicle may have been involved in a crash,” said Lawhead.
