Pedestrian hit by car on Santa Rosa Avenue suffers serious injuries

A man crossing Santa Rosa Avenue Monday evening suffered serious injuries when he was hit by a car, according to authorities.

A preliminary CHP investigation showed the pedestrian was at fault for trying to cross the four-lane thoroughfare in traffic when he didn’t have the right-of-way. He wasn’t in a crosswalk, CHP Officer Marcus Hawkins said.

The man was identified as Ming Jia, but he didn’t have identification and his age and town of residence were not clear, Hawkins said.

Minutes before 6:30 p.m., Jia carried a bag of groceries as he started across on foot, just north of East Robles Avenue. He was struck by a southbound sedan driven by Usha Humagain, 35, of Santa Rosa, Hawkins said.

CHP officers and Sonoma County Fire firefighters responded, finding the pedestrian with head and face injuries, groceries strewn across the roadway, a visibly shaken driver, significant hood and windshield damage to her 2015 Nissan Sentra and a young child in the back seat.

The man was rushed to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. No one in the car was injured, said Sonoma County Fire Capt. Fred Leuenberger.

Santa Rosa Avenue is a busy, four-lane thoroughfare paralleling Highway 101. Firefighters too often respond to similar pedestrian crashes in that stretch of the avenue, Leuenberger said.

“It happens in that area so often. People choose to run across the street rather than go down to the crosswalks, which are pretty close,” the veteran fire captain said. “They dart across the street.”

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.