Exclusive: Here’s what caused a tow truck to plummet off the Pioneer Bridge in 2019

The shocking crash that sent a tow truck plummeting off the Highway 50 bridge last year, killing a husband and wife, was prompted by little more than a glancing blow between two trucks, investigators have determined.

A year-long review determined that tow truck driver failed to properly merge with a 70-foot-long big rig just ahead of him on the Pioneer Memorial Bridge on March 26, 2019. The tow truck’s front right wheel scraped the rear left wheel of a big rig near the apex of the bridge.

A member of the couple’s family who saw a summary of the CHP report said he believes, however, it is possible the big-rig cut off the tow truck.

The 8:30 p.m. incident on westbound Highway 50 caused the tow truck to career to the left across several traffic lanes and smash into and over the interior freeway guard rail, vaulting the truck off the bridge, according to an investigation by the California Highway Patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team.

The tow truck, carrying Shalvinesh Sharma, 40, and his wife Roselyn Sharma, 39, fell 101 feet into the river, then sunk 30 feet to the river bottom. The Sharmas, owners of local Justin’s Towing, which was named after their son, were on their way to a call when the crash occurred. CHP officials said they do not know which of the two was driving the tow truck.

Shalvinesh Sharma’s body was found floating in the river two weeks later about five miles downstream near Sacramento’s Pocket neighborhood. A few days after that, crews found Roselyn Sharma’s body inside the mangled tow truck when they extracted it from the river.

CHP officials said the crash occurred at about 45 miles per hour. The big-rig driver was merging slightly ahead of the tow truck onto the freeway westbound from northbound Interstate 5.

CHP spokesman Mike Harris said investigators believe the tow truck made a “glancing” impact with the big-rig, then veered sharply left. Investigators said they believe the tow truck driver turned the steering wheel to the left during or after impact with the big rig.

The tow truck broke through the upper metal portion of the bridge’s three-foot-high concrete and metal barrier and dropped through the 24-foot-wide gap between the westbound and eastbound freeway bridges.

“The big-rig driver said he felt a slight nudge,” Harris said. “He pulled over to see what it was. He didn’t realize what had happened until he was informed later.”

Tow truck freeway crash investigation concludes

The crash investigation is formally over and copies have been given to representatives of the family, Harris said.

“This is just a tragic incident with a horrible outcome, a perfect storm of events that cascaded into this truck going off the side of the bridge,” Harris said. “We are sorry for everybody involved, the family grieving the loss of loved ones.”

The couple left behind two children, Justin, 17, and Joselyn, 13.

Donald Sharma, a brother of Roselyn Sharma, said he does not believe the CHP report conclusions are definitive. He said he believes it is possible the big-rig got in the tow truck’s way as it merged onto the freeway, and that the rear of the 70-foot truck could have swayed out to the left, causing the impact.

The two families held a joint memorial service. “We want to do the service together as well,” family member Justin Singh said before the service. ”We want to make sure we praise their souls from our family that came all over the place.”

“My brother-in-law and my sister, they worked together, they had a loving marriage, they built a business together. And they died together in the same accident. It’s very sad.”

It took several weeks to recover the truck and the bodies. Rescue work was repeatedly postponed due to the danger of fast-moving river water.

The vehicle was found with the help of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. sonar technology, which is normally used to monitor underwater infrastructure. A private recovery crew spent more than two days trying to wrest the vehicle from the murky bottom amid cold and swift currents after multiple law enforcement agencies worked for two weeks to locate the vehicle.

Family members held vigil at the recovery site and said they felt some closure when Roselyn Sharma’s body was found.

“I’m kind of blessed, a lot of people came up to us and said their prayers,” Singh said. “It worked ... because we got her today, this morning from the tow truck, she’s there.”

This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 11:24 AM.