LOWER LAKE, Calif. – A Clearlake man died on Tuesday when his vehicle went off Highway 53 and hit a tree.
Lawrence Gene Kerr, 71, was identified by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office as the victim of the crash.
The California Highway Patrol said the crash that claimed Kerr’s life occurred just after 3:30 p.m. Tuesday on Highway 53 north of Anderson Ranch Parkway in Lower Lake.
The CHP report explained that 48-year-old Juan Ramirez of Clearlake was driving a 1994 Ford pickup northbound on Highway 53, having just turned onto the highway from south of Anderson Marsh.
Kerr was driving his 2009 Toyota northbound behind Ramirez, the CHP said.
For reasons that the CHP said still remain under investigation, the two vehicles ended up side by side, both driving northbound when Kerr lost control of his car and traveled off the east roadway edge.
After Kerr’s vehicle went off the highway it overturned and hit a tree, the CHP said.
Lake County Fire Protection District units that responded pronounced Kerr dead at the scene, based on radio reports.
CHP Officer Kory Reynolds said investigators have several witnesses offering information on the crash.
Melody Hartnett of Middletown told Lake County News that the CHP called her on Wednesday to get her account of the crash.
She said Ramirez pulled out into traffic in the highway’s lefthand lane near Anderson Marsh, immediately in front of Kerr, cutting him off.
She said Kerr hit his brakes to avoid hitting Ramirez’s pickup, adding that she also had to slam on her brakes to avoid a crash.
“I was directly behind them,” she said.
She said Ramirez couldn’t merge to the right because of her car, so he went around Kerr’s car to the left. She said they appeared to be trying to pass each other, both of them in the lefthand lane.
Hartnett said the two vehicles then started hitting each other.
“This all happened in the span of less than 500 feet,” she said.
Hartnett said Kerr appeared to lose control of his car, which went off the right side of the road and started flipping over. It came to rest with the undercarriage of the car against a tree. The pickup stopped a short distance away.
She said she believed she was the first one to dial 911. Once ambulances started showing up at the scene, she said she left.
Hartnett said that, from her vantage point, it appeared to have resulted from a road rage incident.
“It started because of the truck pulling out in front of the car,” Hartnett said.
Ramirez was uninjured, the CHP said.
The CHP said both drivers were wearing their seat belts and driving under the influence is not suspected to have contributed to the wreck.
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Clearlake man dies in Tuesday crash; witness shares account of wreck
- Elizabeth Larson
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