Driver faces DUI charge after fiery wrong-way crash on Highway 99 in south Sacramento
One motorist is in critical condition and a suspected wrong-way driver is facing felony drunken driving charges after a series of collisions late Friday that shut down a south Sacramento stretch of Highway 99 into the overnight hours.
California Highway Patrol officers said they arrested a 19-year-old Sacramento man on suspicion of felony driving under the influence of alcohol causing injuries. The arrest was made at a hospital where he was taken after the fiery wreck.
Officers found the suspected wrong-way driver’s vehicle engulfed in flames on the northbound freeway at Fruitridge Road about 10:45 p.m., with debris strewn across all lanes of traffic, CHP officials said Saturday.
Officers say the teen was driving a BMW sedan the wrong way onto the northbound lanes north of Fruitridge Road when his car sideswiped a Toyota driven by a motorist identified as a 20-year-old Orangevale woman.
The force of that collision sent the BMW into the path of a Dodge driven by a 27-year-old Modesto man. The driver of the Dodge plowed broadside into the BMW and the BMW burst into flames. The driver of the Dodge then collided with a Lexus sedan in the next lane and driven by a Modesto woman, 31.
Officers pulled the 19-year-old from the wreckage of the BMW. The driver of the Dodge was already out of his vehicle and on the ground when officers found him and rendered aid until Sacramento Fire Department crews arrived.
The Dodge driver was in critical condition Saturday, according to the CHP. The drivers of the Toyota and Lexus were treated for minor injuries at the scene.
Crews continued to remove wreckage and clear debris into early Saturday.
The CHP did not reopen the northbound freeway until after 2 a.m.
This story was originally published July 29, 2023 at 1:27 PM.
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