Sonoma County sheriff's deputies are investigating an unusual case of a 70-year-old Petaluma woman who allegedly set out to kill herself by purposefully crashing into a big-rig.
The woman survived and the driver of the tractor-trailer rig, Karl Minnigerode, 56, of Santa Rosa, was seriously shaken but not injured. His company's main truck was wrecked.
"When the CHP interviewed her, she said she left her house that morning with the intent of finding a truck to drive into," Minnigerode said he was told by the CHP. "I guess that I was the first one she saw."
The two vehicles came together at about 8:40 a.m Saturday on Adobe Road, a major rural route through east Petaluma.
The crash closed the roadway for three hours and left extensive wreckage. Deputies now are investigating whether the woman should be arrested for a crime, including assault with a deadly weapon, attempted vehicular manslaughter and attempted murder, said sheriff's Sgt. Brad Burke.
For Minnigerode, who owns Sequoia Landscape Materials in Santa Rosa, it was 30 seconds of terror.
"I was driving along, minding my own business and the lady in the Nissan just came across at me, across the double yellow lines at me," Minnigerode recalled Thursday.
"I held onto the steering wheel trying to keep it on the pavement, keep it upright," the veteran truck driver said. "It was a wild ride, I tell you ... I thought that was it for me."
Such crashes are rare, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.
"It is pretty unusual to see suicide ... by trying to drive into somebody else," Sloat said. "We see people go into trees, over the edge on the coast, but to put somebody else's life in danger" is unusual.
The most serious local case in recent years occurred in 2005 in Windsor.
In that crash, driver Leslie Ann Gomez, then 43, of Windsor, drove head-on into another vehicle on Shiloh Road, killing driver Judy Lampee, 60, of Sebastopol.
Gomez, who survived the impact with minor injuries, told officers she had been trying to kill herself when she ran into the other car.
She was prosecuted for second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon.
Gomez pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon and vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced in November 2006 to eight years and four months in state prison.
This crash occurred early Saturday as Minnigerode was returning to Santa Rosa after a trip to Sonoma for soil.
The woman's eastbound Nissan Murano crossed the double yellow line into the path of the 3-axle dump tractor and 2-axle trailer, said the CHP.
"All I had time to do was swerve to the right. I avoided the head-on," said Minnigerode. But the SUV sideswiped him and grazed down the side of his rig.
"She hit the middle axle, broke off the frame. It sent me completely out of control," he said.
The SUV went into a spin and the trailer overturned, spilling its load of planting soil across the road.
The rig's front section continued for several hundred feet before it stopped, further blocking the two-lane road, said the CHP.
The SUV had major damage to the front end and driver's side.
"I was shaking like a leaf," Minnigerode said. "It scared the you-know-what out of me."
He stayed at the crash scene and the woman was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
While there she told a CHP officer she had been trying to kill herself when she drove into the truck, said the CHP.
She then was placed on a 72-hour mental health hold. Because the crash was no longer considered an accident, deputies were called to conduct a criminal investigation.
Burke said the results will go to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office to determine if the driver should be arrested and prosecuted.
Sheriff's officials Thursday weren't releasing the woman's name, saying she remained a suspect.
Minnigerode, who grew up in Marin County, has lived in Santa Rosa for about 30 years, where he and his wife operate their business.
About five months ago they upgraded their hauling abilities by buying the new tractor-trailer rig at a cost of about $150,000, he said.
Whether the rig is beyond repair wasn't clear Thursday, but for now it's out of commission.
"I have no truck to drive. I'm having to hire trucks to do my work for me," he said.
After the crash, the man and his wife discussed a variety of potential scenarios that might explain why the driver crossed into his lane, including alcohol, a medical emergency, falling asleep or texting.
On Sunday, they learned from a CHP officer it was an attempted suicide.
"That shook me up again. It was almost as bad as the crash, that she did it intentionally," he said.
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