Passenger who grabbed steering wheel at 80 mph caused fatal Orangevale crash, CHP says
The California Highway Patrol announced the arrest of a driver and front passenger on charges including hit-and-run and manslaughter following a fatal solo-vehicle crash last month in Orangevale.
Investigators determined the driver of a 2016 Volkswagen Passat was traveling 80 mph on westbound Madison Avenue near Main Avenue in the early hours of Jan. 12 when the front passenger reached over and yanked the steering wheel, leading the sedan to swerve into two metal poles and a fire hydrant, the CHP Valley Division said Friday in a news release.
Three other passengers were in the back seat, the CHP said. The right rear passenger, identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office as 26-year-old Christopher Tousey of Fair Oaks, was ejected from the car and suffered fatal injuries.
The front passenger, identified as 22-year-old Cayleh Morrison of Sacramento, suffered major injuries and was hospitalized. The two other rear passengers received upper-body injuries and were also hospitalized.
The driver, identified by the CHP as 24-year-old Brandon Reyes-Langsjoen of Sacramento, fled from the scene on foot.
Reyes-Langsjoen turned himself in to authorities and was booked into the Sacramento County jail Tuesday on a charge of felony hit-and-run resulting in death, according to the CHP. His bail is set at $600,000.
Morrison was arrested in El Dorado County and now faces a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. Her bail is set at $290,000, El Dorado County jail records show.
Investigators say it is unknown why Morrison grabbed the steering wheel, which turned the vehicle “sharply” at high speeds, and that the passenger was determined to have been under the influence.
The CHP East Sacramento office in a mid-January earlier news release had called Reyes-Langsjoen a person of interest in the crash, saying he had met with investigators and was cooperative.
This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 8:33 AM.
