Authorities say that a 25-year-old man is dead and his passenger is severely injured after a Vacaville car accident that happened on Monday morning. The San Francisco man and his passenger were traveling on westbound I-80 between Mason Street and Allison Drive when he left the road and slammed into a tree.
“It was a very violent crash,” said Steve Bowman, battalion chief for the Vacaville Fire Department. Bowman added that emergency crews found the car’s engine block ripped off and about 10 feet from the car. The car’s front grill was about 40 feet from the crash.
Authorities also say that there is no indication that the driver attempted to brake before hitting the tree, so this accident may be the result of drowsy driving.
It took emergency crews about 20 minutes to extricate the driver and his badly injured female passenger from the wreckage.
The fire department also noted that they recently cleared a homeless camp from the same area that the car crashed into, likely lessening the potential death or injury toll.
An air ambulance took the surviving passenger to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. The driver died before authorities could extricate him.
Source: The Reporter, “Brandon Bernier of San Francisco dies, passenger hurt after car goes off freeway in Vacaville,” Jan. 22, 2012
