4 dead in wrong-way crash on I-80
Special to the Sierra Sun
Two adults and two children from the Sacramento area were killed early Saturday when the Honda they were riding in slammed into a Jeep Wrangler going the wrong way on eastbound Interstate 80 near Eagle Lakes Road.
The dead were identified Monday by the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office as Brittney Montano, 29, and Antonio Montano, 29, of North Highlands, along with a 9-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy, whose names were withheld. It was unknown if the adults were parents of the children, said Andrew Trygg, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.
A third child, a baby held in the arms of one of the adults, survived the crash and was airlifted to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno. The child’s condition was unknown, according to The Associated Press.
The accident occurred at 4:40 a.m. Saturday, around the time a witness called 911 to report the Wrangler driving the wrong way.
A third vehicle, A GMC pickup, struck the immobilized vehicles following the initial collision. The drivers of the Wrangler and the pickup truck also were taken to Renown, and neither their conditions nor their names were released.
Officer Jason Lyman of the California Highway Patrol said alcohol appeared to be a factor with the driver of the Wrangler, which he described as moving at “freeway speed.”
“The vehicles were all very distorted, and the occupants were extracted out of the vehicles,” Lyman said.
The eastbound lanes reopened shortly before noon and the westbound side reopened around 9 a.m., according to the CHP.
William Roller is a staff writer with The Union, a sister publication of the Sierra Sun. He can be reached at wroller@theunion.com
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