A horrific two-car collision on Highway 50 just east of Placerville claimed the lives of four people Saturday night, including two children, when a car headed west in the Apple Hill area veered across four lanes of traffic and into the path of a minivan.
Early reports late Saturday had indicated that at least one person had died. Around midnight Saturday the word came that the death toll was much worse.
Three people in the car, a 2004 Toyota Prius, died at the scene of the crash, which occurred about 6:05 p.m. They were the 38-year-old male driver, an adult woman, and a boy, all from San Francisco, said CHP Officer Sean Ricci.
The only other occupant of that vehicle, a 10-year-old girl also from San Francisco, was hospitalized with severe injuries, Ricci said.
In addition, a 4-year-old Placerville girl riding in the minivan died after the crash. The minivan was headed east in the slow lane of Highway 50 when the Prius crossed its path. The girl was pronounced dead in a local hospital, Ricci said.
The collision left two other people - the 35-year-old woman driving the minivan and a 51-year-old male passenger in that car - with minor to moderate injuries. Twin boys, 1 year old, were also riding in the minivan but were not injured, Ricci said.
Ricci said he did not know the speeds of the two vehicles or what caused the driver of the car to veer from the westbound slow lane of Highway 50, across the fast lanes in each direction, and into the minivan's path.
The crash occurred along a stretch of Highway 50 that does not yet have a center divider. Ricci said El Dorado County has been erecting road dividers in recent years tied to location and traffic levels.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by Loretta Kalb
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.