Pair injured in deadly Occidental Road crash remain in critical condition

Two people, including singer-songwriter Norman Greenbaum, remained in critical condition Sunday, a day after a motorcycle crashed into a Subaru Outback at Occidental and Piezzi roads west of Santa Rosa.

The driver of the Outback, Bonita Perea, 63, of Santa Rosa, was traveling east on Occidental Road and failed to yield to the motorcycle when turning left onto Piezzi Road, CHP officials said. The motorcycle driver, Ihab Usama Halaweh, 20, of Santa Rosa, crashed into the sedan and died at the scene.

The passenger on the motorcycle, identified as Nhimia Mekonnen Kahsay, 20, and Greenbaum, who was a passenger in the Outback, were injured in the crash and transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

The driver of the Outback was not injured, CHP officials said.

“There’s no stop, but the Subaru driver was supposed to yield to oncoming traffic and they didn’t,” said CHP officer Matt Pinheiro, who was at the scene of the crash, which occurred at ?3:20 p.m. Saturday.

Kahsay was being treated in the intensive care unit at Santa Rosa Memorial for injuries sustained in the crash, said Vanessa DeGier, a hospital spokeswoman.

Kahsay’s injuries did not appear to be life threatening, but his vital signs were unstable, DeGier said.

“Critical condition means the patient may also be unconscious,” she said. “Indicators are unfavorable at the moment.”

DeGier said no additional information was available for Greenbaum, citing patient privacy laws.

Greenbaum, 72, a longtime Sonoma County resident, was best known for his 1969 hit “Spirit in the Sky” - one of the most familiar pop songs of the past 50 years.

Officers are still looking into the crash, including how fast the motorcyclist was driving. The investigation could take two weeks. Officers do not think alcohol or drugs played a role.

Pinheiro said crashes on Occidental Road are common. He estimated that the nature of Occidental Road, a high-traffic east-west byway with multiple T-style intersections, is responsible for eight to 10 crashes per year.

“Drivers on the side streets have to stop, but through traffic on Occidental does not,” he said.

Halaweh’s friends on Sunday reacted to his death on social media, posting comments about how much he is loved and missed.

“I can’t believe this is true,” wrote one friend on Halaweh’s Facebook page. “I don’t want to believe it.”

Family members could not be reached for comment Sunday, but many people who identified themselves as family, with the same last name, also responded on social media, sharing their messages of love and sorrow.

Halaweh’s Facebook page featured numerous photos of the motorcycle he was driving, a 2004 Suzuki GSX-R600, when it crashed. He was proud of the bike, which he referred to as “my baby” in a February posting. In January he posted a photo of himself standing on the bike with news that he was trying “to get a few stunts down” before summer.

No further information was available Sunday about Halaweh. His passenger, Kahsay, has had run-ins with police in the past. Kahsay was arrested last summer in connection with a fraudulent credit card scheme.

Police arrested Kahsay and Mohannad Halaweh on June 4 on suspicion of stealing about $150,000 worth of gift cards from Safeway stores up and down the North Coast by using fake credit cards to purchase them, and using stolen credit card information to rent a $240,000 sports car and two high-end vacation homes, authorities said.

The men had been under investigation by a multi-agency law enforcement team for about two months before their June arrest. The two were pulled over in Sonoma County and detained after police identified the stolen vehicle, a bright orange McLaren sports car that had been reported stolen earlier that day by a South Bay car rental agency.

Kahsay was the passenger in the vehicle, but detectives said they believed that Kahsay was not guilty of credit card fraud. Mohannad Halaweh appears to be the one who actually used the bogus cards to make the purchases. Kahsay was implicated in some of the charges.

It was unclear Sunday what relationship, if any, there was between the deceased Ihab Halaweh and Mohannad Halaweh.