A passenger is dead after a car rear-ended a parked big rig in Rio Linda early Friday, and the driver took off before authorities arrived, according to the California Highway Patrol. Crews were called to West Elkhorn Boulevard and Marnice Road just before 2:30 a.m., where they found the aftermath of a collision that left one person dead at the scene.
Passenger Killed, Driver Nowhere to Be Found
CHP officials said the person killed was a passenger riding in the car that struck the parked truck, according to KCRA. The station reported that the vehicle's driver fled the scene, leaving investigators to piece together what happened without the person believed to have been behind the wheel. As CBS Sacramento reported, officers have not released details about the person who allegedly left the scene, and investigators have not identified what led up to the crash.
A CHP incident feed tracked by chpbigrig.com logged the crash as a hit-and-run with injuries at West Elkhorn Boulevard and Marnice Road. An entry posted at 2:21 a.m. described the collision simply as a car versus a parked big rig, according to the chpbigrig.com log. By 2:42 a.m., the same log noted that the coroner was en route to the scene.
Road Shut Down for Measurements, Later Reopened
The chpbigrig.com log also showed that both sides of Elkhorn were shut down near the nearby train tracks at 3:06 a.m. so investigators could take measurements. KCRA later reported that Elkhorn Boulevard has since reopened, allowing traffic to return to the area where the crash unfolded overnight.
This is not the first time a fatal hit-and-run has struck along the same stretch of road. In a separate incident, a pedestrian was struck and killed in the roadway a little after 9:30 p.m. near Elkhorn and Rio Linda boulevards, according to a report from CBS News Sacramento. In that case, the driver of a second car suffered major injuries and was taken to the hospital, and CHP said it was searching for the initial hit-and-run suspect, believed to have been driving a silver Pontiac. A separate account from Rio Linda Online described a fatal hit-and-run near Elkhorn and 6th Street in which a pedestrian was struck shortly after 9:30 p.m. It is not clear from available reporting when that earlier incident took place or whether it is connected to Friday's crash.
For now, the driver who fled the scene near Marnice Road remains unidentified, and CHP has not said whether an arrest is imminent. The investigation into what caused the car to strike the parked big rig is still underway.
