One person died and two others were seriously injured at the scene of a car crash on northbound Highway 101 at Highway 128 in Cloverdale Wednesday morning, March 17. California Highway Patrol (CHP) were called to the scene of a three-car accident, which included a vehicle into the center divide of the freeway, according to CHP’s incident information page. One person was reported dead at the scene.
According to the incident update page, CHP responded to a call reporting sounds of a multi-vehicle accident at 5:26 a.m. The freeway remained closed for a sizable portion of the early morning, with CHP reporting all lanes as open at 10:03 a.m.
“Preliminary investigation indicates a Kia Forte with three male occupants was traveling northbound on US-101, north of SR-128. The male driver lost control and the Forte collided with the concrete center median. The Forte subsequently rolled over and stopped in the middle of two northbound lanes,” said David deRutte, CHP public information officer.
Patrick Infante, of Santa Rosa, was in a Kia Optima driving in the northbound lane. When Infante approached the scene, the left side of his vehicle swiped the Forte. A Chrysler 200, driven by Canyon Sparks of Rohnert Park, was also traveling northbound approaching the scene and collided with the front of the Forte.
According to deRutte, CHP believe that the driver of the Forte was attempting to exit his vehicle when the collision with the Chrysler occurred. He was ejected from the vehicle and sustained fatal injuries.
The two passengers in the Forte were transported to Memorial Hospital with moderate to major injuries. Sparks was transported to Kaiser with moderate injuries and Infante was not injured.
The name of the deceased driver is being withheld until family can be notified.
Anyone who witnessed the colission or the events leading up to it are being asked to call the Santa Rosa CHP office at 707-588-1400.
