CHP: Hit-and-run driver struck, killed by passing vehicle on Highway 101 near Healdsburg

A driver suspected of a Tuesday night hit-and-run crash on Highway 101 near Healdsburg died minutes later after he pulled his damaged truck off to the side of the highway, got out, and was hit by a passing car, according to the CHP.

The impact threw the man into the roadway, where he apparently was struck by a second vehicle, CHP Sgt. Al Capurro said Wednesday.

The man’s name wasn’t available Wednesday from the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office.

The crash sequence started at 9:10 p.m. in northbound lanes near Lytton Springs Road. The driver in a U-Haul F-350 pickup hit a 2017 Hyundai Accent, passed it and kept going, Capurro said.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Marshall Turbeville responded to the initial crash and found a damaged vehicle pulled over onto the shoulder. Driver Heather Price, 40, of McKinleyville, was still seated in her sedan.

Turbeville checked on Price, who told him, “?‘I can’t believe somebody hit me,’?” he said.

He found part of a plastic fender in a highway lane and sideswipe marks on the driver’s side of Price’s car. She described the U-Haul truck, and Turbeville flipped on his lights and siren and sped up the highway to try to catch up to the truck.

By the time he arrived at the spot where the U-Haul had pulled over on the right side of the highway, the driver was dead. Traffic was light and Turbeville and others closed the highway, diverting traffic around the gruesome scene.

Investigators piecing together the sequence later determined about six minutes elapsed between the two crashes, according to the CHP.

Why the man pulled off the highway just south of Geyserville Avenue wasn’t clear. The truck had right front-end and tire damage. He was struck in the slow lane, investigators said.

“The driver gets out of his vehicle and is standing in the No. 2 lane, where he gets hit,” Capurro said.

A distraught Kimberly Olney, 62, of Cloverdale told officers he appeared in front of her vehicle, a 2013 Honda Fit. “She had no chance to avoid him,” the sergeant said.

Another northbound driver, James Byrne, 65, of Cloverdale, then traveled into the crash scene in his 2010 Toyota Camry. Not knowing what was in his path, Byrne apparently ran over the prone body, Capurro said.

No serious injuries were reported for the other drivers.

The northbound lanes were closed until about 2:30 a.m. for the investigation, which continued Wednesday.