Popular Moreno Valley coach and family die in accident and fire on freeway

The victims of a freeway crash and fire Saturday were a popular high school coach, his wife and their two small children.

Ryan Villalpando, an assistant football coach at Moreno Valley High, was killed with his wife, Veronica, and their two children when their car became wedged between two trucks and burst into flames.

The accident occurred shortly after noon on the southbound 15 Freeway, south of the Jurupa Street exit, in Ontario, said California Highway Patrol Officer Monica Posada.

The accident became a six-car pileup involving cars and trucks and also resulted in several minor injuries. A photo taken by a witness, and aired on KCAL-TV Channel 9, shows the Villalpandos'  car fully engulfed in flames and wedged between tractor-trailers front and back.

Authorities have not released the victims’ identities, but they have been reported by a local paper and by KCAL.

"He was my offensive line coach,” Moreno Valley High football coach Ted Wadkins told the Riverside Press-Enterprise. “I met him at Cal State San Bernardino, and he was the first guy I hired. He's taught the last five years at Moreno Valley.”

Wadkins said Veronica Villalpando taught at an aerospace school at  Norton Air Force Base.

KCAL aired an interview with Ryan Villalpando’s father, Edward.

He described his son as “honest, had integrity, tough. He had a bark, but he had a heart, a huge heart. He’s going to be missed.”

He said his son was 32 and was going out to get a pizza with his family when the accident occurred.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.

-- Howard Blume

Comments

[Steve]

"Chain reaction accident." Does that mean some were following other vehicles too closely for the conditions prevailing at the time? I seldom see people keeping to the speed limit. The consequences can be worse when it's a truck.

[Nova yos Galen]

The speeding in the I.E. can be very bad, but it's the tailgating that is most dangerous. You could be going close to 80 in the carpool lane on the 60 in the early morning and pickups will come right up on your bumper and flash their lights for you to speed up. CHPs should be on the look out for this behavior. Agressive driving like that causes accidents.

[Doreen]

It breaks my heart to hear such a sad story.

[Steve]

I drive a high profile vehicle and I can tell you that visibility is terrific. There is absolutely NO reason the truck driver that plowed into the Villalpando and killed them could NOT have seen it coming. Before we start accusing CalTrans, we should grab the driver of the Semi and try him on 4 counts of manslaughter! He was probably texting....

[Maria]

RIP COACH V. AND FAMILY>>YOU'LL BE IN MY PRAYERS..

[AZ]

FYI a lot of people tailgate here in the IE and they think that 75 MPH is the minimum speed you must travel, but remember is call "SPEED LIMIT" meaning you can go 70, 65 60 even 55 MPH and no more that 75MPH if i were a CHP i would ticket anyone going 76MPH. but well am not.

[Alicia]

What an extremely sad story. My heart goes out to their families, and may they find solace in their time of loss. God bless.

I agree with the previous posters. The IE has extreme uncourteous drivers. Truck drivers around here are known to go way past the speed limit as well as major tailgating from behind. I think this truck driver needs to get checked out. What a shame.