So I get a call from my sister today to pick up my tent and the box since I left it at her house since last week. Then she drop’s the bomb on me that my cousin Hugh Rae died yesterday due to a crash but they hit a fence that’s electrified that keeps livestock corralled.

This is fucking nuts, he just turn 21 just barely starting his own life. I was fortunate that his family took me in when I was attending school out on the West Side of San Jose. We grew up together and did a lot of stupid shit. I haven’t heard from him after high school since I’ve moved back to East Side but you only hear from them when a tragic happens. Why is that?

R.I.P Hugh Rae Hammersley - 9/26/07

Two San Jose residents were killed this morning when their pickup truck veered off Highway 101 and into a field in Novato, shearing off a power pole that charged a cattle fence, sparked a grass fire and left live wires arcing in the area. The Marin County coroner’s office identified the driver as John Joseph Greco, 24, of San Jose, and the passenger as Hugh Rae Hammersley, 21, of San Jose. The men were on their way to the Petaluma area, where they worked on a road construction project, said coroner’s spokeswoman Denise Wilson.

Autopsies are planned for Thursday.

The men were traveling north in a Chevrolet pickup truck when the accident occurred at about 6:45 a.m. just south of the Redwood Sanitary Landfill.

Firefighters were stalled for about 10 minutes as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews were summoned to cut power to the downed lines, which electrified a fence that keeps livestock corralled.

“There were several charged wires down,” Novato Fire Protection District spokeswoman Sandy Wargo said. “The whole fence line was charged.”

Firefighters extinguished a small grass fire sparked by the downed lines and, once the power was off, entered the field to tend to the victims. A medical helicopter was requested, but immediately canceled after the victims were pronounced dead.

The accident is under investigation. No witnesses to the crash have come forward, California Highway Patrol Officer Peter Danford said.

It was not known how fast the truck was going, but the impact was such that the engine projected into the passenger compartment, CHP and fire officials said. Debris was scattered along the truck’s 752-foot path from the freeway to where it came to rest in a nearby cow pasture.

More here.