A 41-year-old woman and her 9-year-old son drowned early Monday in a canal after their vehicle was struck by a suspected DUI driver in Fresno as they were returning home from a family Easter gathering in Madera.
Fresno Police Chief Mindy Casto in an update Monday afternoon said the woman had exited southbound Highway 41 at McKinley Avenue and was making a left turn near Fresno Street around 2 a.m. when a driver in a Honda Pilot allegedly ran a red light and broadsided her vehicle.
The force of the crash sent the woman’s Dodge SUV across multiple lanes of traffic, over a median, and into a nearby canal.
“After the vehicle landed in the canal, it floated about 500 feet downstream before coming to rest,” Casto said.
The driver of the Honda Pilot fled the scene, according to police.
Crews from the Fresno Fire Department responded with multiple units, including water rescue teams. Firefighters pulled the woman from the submerged SUV and immediately began CPR.
She was taken to a hospital in critical condition but later died, police confirmed.
The Fresno County Coroner’s Office identified the mother and son as Martha Hernandez and Adrian Hernandez.
Authorities initially believed only one person was in the vehicle. However, while officers were at the hospital family members asked about the woman’s son, prompting a renewed search.
Fire crews searched the submerged vehicle but did not find the boy inside, and after the vehicle was pulled from the canal.
Drones were later used to locate his body approximately two miles downstream near Ferger Avenue and Arroyo Street.
Fresno Fire Chief Billy Alcorn said the department’s swim and dive team began searching from the south and worked their way north before locating the child in the canal.
A witness told The Bee that her brother saw the crash while driving to work.
According to her, he reported that the suspect vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed, causing the victim’s SUV to veer off the roadway and into the canal. He provided dashcam footage to investigators.
The witness said she later picked up her brother because his vehicle remained at the scene.
The driver remained outstanding Monday afternoon.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Fresno police at 559-621-7000.
A woman died after her vehicle went into a Fresno, California canal on Monday, April 6, 2026. ANTHONY GALAVIZ agalaviz@fresnobee.com
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Anthony Galaviz writes about sports for The Fresno Bee. He covers the Las Vegas Raiders, high schools, boxing, MMA and junior colleges. He’s been with The Bee since 1997 and attended Fresno City College before graduating from Fresno State with a major in journalism and a minor in criminology.
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