3 dead, 1 hospitalized after head-on crash in Northern California. DUI suspected, CHP says
Three people were killed and another was seriously injured in a suspected DUI crash Sunday night in Amador County involving a vehicle fleeing law enforcement, authorities said.
The incident was a head-on collision occurring around 8 p.m. on Highway 88 near Eggiman Lane, east of Ione and Sunnybrook, the California Highway Patrol’s Amador office said Tuesday morning in a news release.
The driver of a 2015 Infiniti, identified by the CHP as 41-year-old Jason Newell of Stockton, was reportedly trying to evade CHP officers during an attempted speeding stop on westbound Highway 88 when he drove the wrong way into oncoming traffic, striking a 2021 Acura.
The woman driving the Acura along with one passenger in that vehicle, a 73-year-old Stockton man, were killed, the CHP said. A passenger in Newell’s vehicle, an unidentified male, was also killed.
The CHP reported that an officer pulled Newell out of the Infiniti, which was then “consumed by fire.”
Newell suffered major injuries and was transported to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, according to the CHP collision report. His status as of Tuesday morning was not known.
Two other vehicles traveling eastbound along with the Acura also sustained minor damage, and one additional driver, a 65-year-old Stockton woman, had minor injuries that did not require her to be transported to a hospital, according to the CHP news release.
The CHP said alcohol is suspected as a factor in the fatal incident, and that Newell was arrested.
The collision closed Highway 88 in both directions for about eight hours.
No other details were released.
