LAFAYETTE, CA—A group of firefighters escaped injury after ending up in the path of the second of two crashes on an East Bay highway, both suspected to have been caused by driving under the influence, the California Highway Patrol said Tuesday afternoon.
All of the firefighters were from the Contra Costa Fire Protection District and checked out OK after being evaluated at a hospital, fire spokesman Capt. George Laing said. They were blocking off the far right lane and shoulder of westbound Highway 24 at the Acalanes Road exit while protecting officers investigating the earlier crash.
The second crash happened around 11:30 p.m. Monday, about 2 1/2 hours after the first one.
Officers arrested a man they identified as 30-year-old Oakland resident Suallah Hatari Lloyd on suspicion of DUI following the second crash. An ambulance rushed Lloyd to a trauma center with major injuries, and the CHP said he will remain hospitalized for some time.
According to the CHP, Lloyd drove a Honda sedan into the fire engine at a “high rate of speed.”
The first crash is suspected to have been caused by a man with three passengers in his Lexus sedan. The CHP identified the driver as 22-year-old Konstantin Vodyanov, of Pinole, and said officers arrested him on suspicion of felony DUI. He will be hospitalized for several days with major injuries from the crash that weren’t life-threatening, the CHP said.
“There is NEVER A REASON to drive impaired,” the CHP said in a statement, capitalizing part of it for emphasis. “DUI driving is 100 percent PREVENTABLE 100 percent of the time.”
According to the CHP, Vodyanov crashed the Lexus into the back of a Safeway big rig around 9:05 p.m. All three passengers also were hospitalized with major injuries, but they are expected to survive, the CHP said.
The big rig driver was not injured.
The second crash temporarily caused all lanes to be shut down for more than an hour and hazmat crews were summoned to deal with a fuel leak, the CHP said.
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