LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A driver, a passenger and a pedestrian were killed in three separate traffic crashes this past weekend.
The incidents occurred from late Saturday night through late Sunday night.
A pedestrian died after being hit by a car in Nice around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, a wrong-way driver on Highway 29 near the Lake County Jail early Sunday died after crashing and rolling his vehicle and a passenger died after the vehicle he was riding in hit a parked pickup late Sunday night in Lucerne.
The Lake County Sheriff’s office identified the pedestrian who died as Kevin Jones, 58, of Nice. The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office also said Jones is associated with the Santa Rosa area.
The CHP said Frankie G. Sullivan, 29, of Lucerne was driving his 2015 Chrysler eastbound on Highway 20 at Hutchins Road in Nice at 10:35 p.m. Saturday. For reasons still under investigation, Jones was in the roadway.
Sullivan was unable to stop his vehicle and hit Jones, who the CHP said died at the scene.
About an hour and a half later, just after midnight Sunday, a wrong-way driver was killed in a wreck at Highway 29 and Hill Road. Authorities identified that driver as Benjamin Britton, 29, of Covelo and Lucerne.
The CHP said witnesses reported that Britton was driving his silver 1999 Honda CRV northbound in the southbound lanes of Highway 29 near 11th Street in Lakeport.
He was first reported driving the wrong way on the highway at 12:04 a.m.; at approximately 12:07 a.m., as CHP units were responding to the area, the Honda hit the metal bridge abutment located on Highway 29, at the Hill Road under-crossing.
The Honda overturned and landed on Hill Road, below Highway 29. The CHP said emergency personnel responded to the crash scene and Britton was pronounced dead.
The last of the crashes was reported late Sunday night and claimed the life of 30-year-old Justin Dale of Lucerne.
Dale was riding as the passenger in a 2012 Volkswagen driven by 31-year-old Patricia Martha Murphy of Lucerne, the CHP said.
Murphy was driving westbound on Highway 20 east of Lake Street at 23:52 p.m. The CHP said that when Murphy was driving she “unsafely turned” and allowed her vehicle to travel to the right from the main traveled portion of the roadway. As a result, the Volkswagen hit the rear of a parked Ram 5500 pickup.
Dale died of his injuries at the scene, based on CHP and radio reports.
The CHP said Murphy was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. She was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
The three crashes remain under investigation, the CHP said.
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