Authorities suspect drunken driving after a motorist driving the wrong way on the Capital City Freeway crashed head-on into a vehicle Sunday, killing a female passenger and injuring the driver.
The crash happened just after 9 a.m. in the northbound lanes of the freeway, just before the exit for Exposition Boulevard, said Officer Justin Fetterly, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol’s North Sacramento office.
The driver of a Toyota Corolla, driven by a man in his 30s, entered the highway in the wrong direction and collided with a Nissan Altima with two occupants. The force of the crash caused the Corolla to plunge into the concrete center divider of the highway.
The driver of the Altima, a man in his late 20s according to Fetterly, was hospitalized with injuries. His passenger, identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office as Cheryl Ann Nicholle Reed, 30, of Sacramento, was killed in the crash.
The Corolla driver then escaped the crash scene on foot, Fetterly said. CHP officers caught up with the man after he hid in a hotel lobby on nearby Tribute Road. Authorities sent the man to the hospital for injuries he suffered in the crash and he was expected to be booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail once he was medically cleared, Fetterly said.
While the investigation into the crash was ongoing, officers believe the driver of the Corolla was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the crash, Fetterly said.
