A late night accident along Santa Fe Road south of Orange Avenue on Tuesday, Oct. 13 resulted in the death of an Escalon man and left two other people injured.

According to the Stockton California Highway Patrol office, the crash occurred shortly before 10:45 p.m. Tuesday when a southbound 1998 Honda driven by a man identified as Misa Meza, 19, of Escalon crossed into the northbound lane directly into the path of an oncoming car. That vehicle, a 2014 Ford sedan, was being driven by a 23-year-old Escalon woman.

Authorities said a passenger in the Honda, identified as 24-year-old Eduardo Rodriguez, sustained fatal injuries as a result of the collision. He was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel. Meza, the driver, was taken to Memorial Hospital in Modesto with major injuries. The driver of the Ford was taken to Doctors Hospital in Modesto with non-life threatening injures.

“CHP does believe that intoxication was a factor in this collision and it is currently being investigated,” investigating officer Thomas wrote in his report.

It was the second fatal accident in the Escalon area in just over a week’s time. An earlier crash, on Lone Tree Road east of the intersection with Escalon-Bellota, claimed the life of a 21-year-old Stockton woman when her car went off the roadway and hit a power pole. The CHP report in that case indicates that at about 9:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 5, the woman was driving her 2008 Isuzu eastbound on Lone Tree and crossed over the westbound lane and collided with the power pole north of the roadway edge. The woman succumbed to her injuries at the scene.