Two women riding together in the same SUV were killed Sunday evening when their vehicle collided with a pickup truck near Stapley Drive and Broadway Road in Mesa, leaving two other occupants with serious injuries and investigators looking into whether speed played a role. The crash happened around 7 p.m., prompting a lengthy road closure as officers worked the scene into the night.
The victims have been identified as 74-year-old Gloria Apolinar Matias and 44-year-old Idolinda Romero Apolinar, according to FOX 10 Phoenix, which reported that both women were riding inside the same SUV when it collided with the pickup truck. Mesa police say two other adult occupants were transported to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, and are expected to survive, according to ABC15 Arizona.
Accounts of exactly how the two women died differ slightly. KTAR reported that one victim died at the scene while the other succumbed to her injuries at a local hospital, and the outlet also placed the crash site near Seventh Avenue and Stapley Drive. Mesa police shut down Stapley Drive for several hours Sunday night to reconstruct the collision before reopening the roadway, the station reported.
Speed Cited as Possible Factor in Ongoing Investigation
The exact cause of the crash remains under investigation, and police have not said which vehicle, if either, was speeding or whether right-of-way violations were involved. Officials have indicated that speed may have been a factor in the collision, though that determination has not been finalized, per the same account from Mesa police relayed by ABC15…