{"id":870,"date":"2026-09-22T14:31:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/?p=870"},"modified":"2026-09-22T14:31:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:31:19","slug":"grandmother-killed-family-members-injured-after-crash-while-changing-tire-on-freeway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/?p=870","title":{"rendered":"Grandmother killed, family members injured after crash while changing tire on freeway"},"content":{"rendered":"

A grandmother is dead and two family members are hospitalized after troopers say a suspected impaired driver crashed into their vehicles early Wednesday morning<\/p>\n

MESA, Ariz. (AZFamily\/Gray News) \u2014 An 82-year-old grandmother is dead and three of her family members were injured after troopers said a suspected impaired driver slammed into their vehicles on an Arizona freeway.<\/p>\n

The crash happened early Wednesday morning on U.S. 60 near Higley Road.<\/p>\n

Javier Valenzuela said his cousin and his grandmother, Ruth Acu\u00f1a de Valenzuela, were driving home from dinner when a flat tire forced them to the shoulder of the freeway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were really close, so he was always taking her everywhere,\u201d Valenzuela said.<\/p>\n

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Valenzuela\u2019s aunt and uncle arrived to help change the tire and offered to drive Ruth home.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince he was on a spare, my aunt and uncle told him, \u2018We\u2019ll take your grandma home, because you\u2019re on a spare, just go straight home and we\u2019ll take her home,\u2019\u201d Valenzuela said.<\/p>\n

Troopers said 21-year-old Zachary Robert Penrod was driving on U.S. 60 and slammed into both of the family\u2019s vehicles. He showed signs of impairment and was taken into custody, according to troopers.<\/p>\n

Valenzuela said Penrod first hit the car carrying his grandmother, aunt and uncle, killing Ruth on impact.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe had been saying she knew she was getting old, her time was coming soon, but it\u2019s really unfair that someone had to go like this,\u201d Valenzuela said.<\/p>\n

Valenzuela\u2019s aunt and uncle have undergone multiple surgeries, with a long recovery ahead, he said. His cousin suffered a broken collarbone.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy cousin got out and checked on them; he saw everything,\u201d Valenzuela said. \u201cHe\u2019s traumatized; how could you not be?\u201d<\/p>\n

Valenzuela spent days by his family\u2019s side while they recover at the Banner Desert Medical Center.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI just feel bad for my aunt and uncle, they didn\u2019t deserve this either, their whole life is going to be changed,\u201d Valenzuela said. \u201cIt\u2019s not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penrod faces multiple felony charges, including reckless manslaughter and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.<\/p>\n

The family has set up a GoFundMe to help cover funeral and medical costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A grandmother is dead and two family members are hospitalized after troopers say a suspected impaired driver crashed into their vehicles early Wednesday morning MESA, Ariz. (AZFamily\/Gray News) \u2014 An 82-year-old grandmother is dead and three of her family members were injured after troopers said a suspected impaired driver slammed into their vehicles on an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872,"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions\/872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alirthmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}