By Rick Hurd
Bay Area News Group
CONCORD, Calif. — A wrong-way freeway driver apparently driving impaired caused a crash involving six other cars late Friday that killed one person and seriously injured four others, the California Highway Patrol said.
Three other people suffered injuries the CHP deemed minor and one other walked away without an injury in the crash on northbound Interstate 680, just north of the State Highway 242 split. It happened about 11:25 p.m.
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In a statement, CHP spokesperson Officer Dan Gilmore said a passenger traveling in one of the vehicles died at the scene. Authorities have not identified that person.
The CHP said the wrong-way vehicle was a Dodge Charger and that the female driver was taken by ambulance to a hospital and later determined to have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The CHP placed her under arrest pending her release from the hospital, Gilmore said.
He added that the agency they will finalize the charges it will seek from the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office against the driver in the days ahead. The CHP did not identify her.
According to the CHP, the Dodge Charger went south on the northbound side of the freeway, and six other vehicles were involved in the wreck. Four people suffered what the CHP deemed to be major injuries. The wrong-way driver was one of them.
The CHP closed all lanes of northbound I-680 until about 3:35 a.m.
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