The Alameda County coroner's bureau has identified 22-year-old Dominique Currington as the passenger who was killed in a crash near the Bay Bridge this morning after the driver fled a traffic stop by Oakland police.
Currington, of Oakland, was ejected from the Lexus after the driver lost control on the Maritime Street on-ramp to eastbound Interstate Highway 580, California Highway Patrol officer Sam Morgan said. The car went over a concrete guardrail, landed in brush below and rolled several times before coming to rest in the two right lanes of eastbound Interstate Highway 80, Morgan said.
At 6:22 a.m., an Oakland officer attempted to pull over the Lexus, which did not have its headlights on, at West Grand Avenue and Filbert Street, police spokesman Officer Jeff Thomason said.
The driver pulled over, but as the officer walked up to the vehicle the driver suddenly accelerated and fled west on West Grand Avenue, Thomason said.
The officer went back to his car but decided not to pursue the Lexus, Thomason said.
"The officer knew that he wasn't going to be able to catch up with him," Thomason said.
Almost immediately after fleeing from the officer, the driver of the Lexus lost control, Morgan said.
"That on-ramp has a very sharp turn and the driver evidently tried to negotiate that turn at too high of a rate of speed," he said.
The driver was taken to Highland Hospital. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.
Several lanes of eastbound I-80 were blocked while crews removed the "very badly mangled" Lexus, Morgan said.
The CHP is continuing to investigate the crash.
