The Menlo Park Fire Protection District is reeling in the wake of a fatal collision that claimed the lives of three young men, two of whom were members of its Explorer program and one of whom was the eldest son of a 14-year district veteran. Ricky Torres, Andrew Gonzales and Matthew Cruz were killed sometime Halloween night when their 2010 Hyundai skidded off Skyline Boulevard just south of Bear Gulch Road in San Mateo County, hit a tree and plummeted 50 feet down an embankment.
“These kids were all very close,” said Menlo Park Fire Protection District Chief Harold Schapelhouman. “They did things together. Having one, let alone three, pass away is a huge blow.”
The cause of the deadly wreck remains under investigation.