Woman killed, girl injured in Sacramento crash; bystanders detained suspected DUI driver
A woman was dead and a child was seriously injured Thursday morning when their vehicle was broadsided by a pickup that ran a red light in south Sacramento, the California Highway Patrol said.
Bystanders had to detain the injured driver of the pickup after he tried to run away from the scene of the crash, said Officer Mark Leavitt, a spokesman for the CHP South Sacramento Area Office.
About 8:30 p.m. , the Sacramento Police Department received reports of a white pickup being driven recklessly along Mack Road, Stockton Boulevard and Elsie Avenue, Leavitt said. The Police Department relayed the information to the CHP.
The CHP then received calls from witnesses who spotted the white 2006 Chevrolet 3500 pickup heading east on Elsie at a high rate of speed and making unsafe lane changes.
Leavitt said the pickup then ran a red light at the intersection of Power Inn Road, where it broadsided the left side of a silver 2014 Ford Explorer that was heading north on Power Inn Road and had a green light.
The Ford Explorer overturned, and the Chevrolet pickup came to rest in a nearby ditch.
Veronica Vargas, 35, of Sacramento, was driving the Ford Explorer and suffered fatal injuries in the crash, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office announced on Friday. Vargas was pronounced dead at the scene.
Leavitt said a 4-year-old girl was a passenger in the Ford Explorer and suffered major injuries in the crash. Medics took the girl to a hospital where she was listed in critical condition. He said said it was unclear what Vargas’ relationship was with the injured girl.
Bystanders helped the injured pickup driver, 32-year-old Kryn Michael Spear of Elk Grove, out of the vehicle after the crash, but he tried to get away from the crash scene, Leavitt said. The bystanders then had to restrain Spear and detain him until CHP officers arrived.
Spear was treated at a hospital before he was booked at the Sacramento County Jail. The CHP said Spear was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, hit-and-run, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving with a suspended driver’s license.
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 1:06 PM.
