Van Hits and Kills 14-Year City Employee

Police closed off part of Gilroy’s Farrell Avenue Monday morning after a van struck and killed 40-year-old city employee David Vogel, according to Gilroy spokesman Joe Kline.

The incident happened near 90 Farrell Ave., close to Monterey Road, around 11 a.m.

Vogel, a maintenance worker and city employee since 1997, was out “on routine duty performing inspections” before the incident, according to a press release from the city.

Residents of the street said that traffic was usually calm, but it can pick up in the mornings and evenings.

“Sometimes it gets pretty busy when school is about to start,” said Yajaira Velazquez, 18. Del Buono Elementary is a few blocks away.

Velazquez said she went outside and saw the paramedics.

“It’s pretty shocking,” she said.

Another resident, 24-year-old Ricky Melendez, went home and saw the police tape across his street. Farrell Avenue was usually calm, he said, other than the souped-up cars that sometimes race through the neighborhood at night.

Chaplains from the police department are spending the day with Vogel’s family and members of the public works department.

“David was a valued and dedicated employee who will be sorely missed by all those who knew him,” wrote Kline in the release.

Vogel had a Bachelor of Science degree in business and human resources from Sonoma State University, according to the release.

Gilroy police’s Major Accident Investigation Team, called in after accidents involving serious injury or death, is investigating the incident, said police spokeswoman Amanda Stanford.