One of the victims of a head-on crash in Sorrento Valley last week has died, her family said, days after the collision in which a speeding driver crossed into oncoming traffic and hit her SUV that was part of a funeral procession.
Corazon Lange died Tuesday after multiple surgeries, her family said. The 90-year-old had suffered fractures in her neck and spine, as well as internal bleeding, after the crash.
Lange was one of five people traveling in an SUV that was part of a funeral procession just before 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 2 in the 6000 block of Carroll Road. San Diego police say the driver of a white sedan was speeding and lost control, drifting over the line and hitting the SUV carrying Lange, her two daughters and their husbands.
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All five, and the driver of the sedan, had to be extricated and were taken to area hospitals with serious injuries.
Lange’s family said she died surrounded by family. Shirley Weinmann was traveling in the funeral procession behind the SUV carrying Lange, who is her aunt, and her cousins.
“I just saw a white car coming around the corner and it was going very fast,” Weinmann said. “I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh, that car is not going to stop. And it's not turning. It has to turn.’ And I saw it, and all of a sudden I thought: 'It's going to hit one of us. I'm not sure who it's going to hit, but it's going to hit one of us.' ”
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“It's surreal," Weinmann added. "I felt that it was — I was dreaming. It appeared that it was slow motion."
Weinmann said Lange was “the life of the party” and “a little fireball” who loved to dance and always made her family laugh.
“Her smile is what sticks with me the most,” said Jonathan Gomez, who’s married to Lange’s granddaughter.
Gomez and his wife came to San Diego from their home in the Bay Area to care for her parents once they found out about the crash.
“You don’t expect that phone call ever,” Gomez said. “When you suffer an accident like this, your world kind of does stop.”
Weinmann said the crash and the loss of her aunt came at a difficult time.
“Our family was together, and then all of a sudden, another tragedy happened,” Weinmann said. “We were just burying a loved one, and now we have to bury another loved one.”
Police said drugs were suspected to be a factor in the crash and pending blood-test results. The driver of the sedan was hospitalized and as of Friday, no charges had been filed. The investigation – now a manslaughter investigation – remained ongoing.
The family set up an online fundraiser to help with funeral and medical expenses.
Gomez said the family doesn’t feel anger, and instead are focused on what they have in one another.
“We are celebrating the life that we — the life and the lives that are still here with us,” Gomez said.
