A suspected drunk driver hit and killed a Caltrans worker at a road closure for an earlier fatal car accident involving marijuana Sunday night near Chico.
• Fatal accident involving marijuana on Highway 99 near Chico at 6 p.m.
• Caltrans closed highway
• Drunk driver hit and killed Caltrans worker at road closure at 11:20 p.m. — and kept driving
• Drunk driver charged with second-degree murder
The first deadly crash occurred just before 6 p.m., according to a report in the Sacramento Bee.
The California Highway Patrol said a Dodge pickup truck that was driving erratically in the northbound lanes of Highway 99 veered into oncoming traffic and slammed into a southbound GMC pickup truck.
A 29-year-old woman, a 31-year-old man, and a 7-year-old boy riding in the GMC truck died at the scene. All of them were from Hamilton City. Their names were not released as of Monday morning.
Another child — a 6-year-old boy — was airlifted to U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where he was in critical condition on life support, according to a report in the Oroville Mercury-Register.
Police found “several pounds of processed marijuana” in the Dodge pickup. According to a CHP report, authorities had not determined who was driving that truck. All three people who in the truck — 26-year-old Richard Carstensen of Corning, 25-year-old Robert Barnes of Corning, and Michael Rasmussen of Chico – were arrested and charged with transportation of marijuana for sale. All three of them were taken to Enloe Medical Center in Chico. Barnes and Carstensen, were treated and released; Rasmussen was hospitalized. The nature and extent of their injuries was not stated.
The pedestrian accident in which the Caltrans worker was killed occurred at about 11:20 p.m., according to the Bee.
Caltrans was setting up a road closure while authorities investigated the previous fatal accident. The CHP said that 45-year-old Russell N. Hodge of Corning was driving a Ford F250 pickup truck north on Highway 99 slammed into the Caltrans employee who was working on the closure and kept on driving.
A CHP officer who was at the scene to investigate the earlier accident stopped Hodge, saw that he was intoxicated, and arrested him. Hodge was booked into Butte County Jail, where he was charged with second degree murder.
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