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120 Bypass crash victim named
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Lau’ray Thomas was the 16-year-old teen who was killed in the Highway 120 Bypass crash and fire that consumed her grandmother’s car when it was hit from behind at about 3 p.m. Saturday in the slowed eastbound lanes midway between Main Street and Highway 99.

The teen was just beginning her junior year at Johansen High School in Modesto.

CHP Officer James Smith reported Monday morning that the driver of the 2014 Dodge Caravan that struck the Thomas’ Mercury Sable had been driving “at a speed greater than safe for the roadway conditions.” 

Joffrey Francois Rene Scaerou, 26, was arrested for suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and transported to San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp with a bail set at $500,001. He is scheduled to appear in the Manteca Branch of the San Joaquin County Jail this morning at 8:30 a.m.

The fire victim’s grandmother, who was airlifted to the U.C. Davis Burn Unit in Sacramento, was listed as Angela Thomas, 45, of Modesto. She is said to be in critical condition with major burns to her body.

Officer Smith said that neither drugs nor alcohol appeared to play a part in the three-car crash. Others reportedly received minor to moderate injuries.