21-year-old driver arrested after 1 teen passenger killed and 2 left with life-threatening injuries

One teen girl was killed and two other passengers suffered life-threatening injuries in a horrendous, fiery crash near Spring Lake late Friday night when the car they were in flew off Montgomery Drive and landed near Santa Rosa Creek, police said Saturday.

The names of the deceased 17-year-old girl and the two male passengers, 17 and 19, have not been released.

Five women and a small child who gathered at the crash scene Saturday appeared to be mourning her, though they did not wish to speak. A Halloween pumpkin and decorative gourd, painted like a bird, were left when they departed, though it could not be confirmed it was they who left them.

Santa Rosa Police identified the driver of the car as Santa Rosa resident Jaden Pruett Steed, 21. He was arrested for suspected drunken driving after a preliminary test determined his blood-alcohol level, at 0.11%, was well over the legal limit.

Police said drugs also are a suspected factor in the 10:15 p.m. crash, though details were not supplied. Steed was injured, though apparently not as badly as those riding with him.

Authorities said the four were traveling at a high rate of speed westbound in a Mazda 3 compact car west of the entrance to Spring Lake Regional Park on a narrow section of Montgomery Drive that follows the creek.

Steed apparently lost control of the vehicle at a slight curve in the road. The car catapulted into the air and sheared off a large tree branch before rolling multiple times down the embankment. It landed upright, facing east, between the road and the creek.

The incident occurred on a stretch of Montgomery Drive with narrow lanes and very little shoulder where numerous serious accidents have occurred in the past.

One neighbor, Wes Silverthorne, has lived for a quarter century on a curve between the park and the crash site.

“In our own yard, we’ve had two fatal accidents, and there’ve been numerous others beyond that,” he said.

His adult daughter, Johanna Silverthorne, was visiting and said part of the problem is the existence of a curve that appears to straighten out, and then the road curves again.

But she also pointed to the roadway’s use by drivers trying to avoid traffic lights on Highway 12 who then detour onto the narrower road, where the 40 mph speed limit appears to most to be a mere suggestion.

From fresh tread marks visible in the dirt off the edge of the road Saturday, it appeared the car ran off the narrow shoulder twice before plunging through a thicket of trees to the ground below.

Pieces of wreckage were cast about the area in the process, before the vehicle stopped and burst into flames, leaving a charred patch of ground near the scarred sycamore branch the car had struck.

Santa Rosa Fire Batallion Chief Matt Gloeckner said several of those inside suffered burn injuries, though he declined to identify which ones.

Emergency officials said neighbors across the creek were among those who heard the crash and rushed to the scene to try to help.

Steed and his left-rear passenger, 17, managed to get out of the vehicle themselves and were helped up the side of the embankment by two bystanders.

Both had been wearing seat belts, police Sgt. Patricia Seffens said.

The passenger still suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital before a flight to a regional burn center, Gloeckner said. A man and a woman who came out to view the scene Saturday afternoon said the boy was in surgery at UC Davis Medical Center. The man, Aaron Moore, said the teen was his nephew.

Bystanders on Friday were assisting the 19-year-old passenger in the front seat when fire personnel first arrived and got him out of the car, dousing the flames, authorities said.

He also suffered life-threatening injuries and was rushed to a Memorial Hospital. It was unknown if he was wearing his seat belt, as officers had not been able to speak with him, due to his medical condition, Seffens said Saturday.

Police will not likely identify him until sometime next week, she said.

The 17-year-old girl was in the right rear seat and was declared dead at the scene. Seffens said there were no immediate plans to release the names of the two minors.

Steed also was taken to the hospital with what police said were non-life-threatening injuries.

He was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and causing injury to others, driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08% or greater and injuring others, and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Seffens said he was still being treated Saturday and had not been cleared for booking yet. His name was not among the inmates at the Sonoma County jail as of 4 p.m. Saturday.

Police are still investigating and ask that anyone with information about the crash contact the investigator, Officer John Fisher, at 707-543-8550 or jfisher@srcity.org.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan (she/her) at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On X @MaryCallahanB.