California

4 Dead Following Multi-Vehicle Crash on Interstate 80 in San Pablo

A Sacramento man believed to be connected to the hit-and-run has been taken into custody

At least four people were killed and six were injured after a multivehicle collision late Saturday on westbound Interstate 80 in San Pablo, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The collision was reported at 8:11 p.m. on the freeway at the San Pablo Dam Road off-ramp, according to the CHP.

CHP officials are investigating the incident as a hit-and-run, and a suspect, identified as Fred Lowe of Sacramento, is in custody, police said.

“A witness identified the driver, saw him hit the vehicle and leave," CHP Officer Matthew Hammer said. "He relayed the info the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department."

Lowe, 47, was driving on a suspended license due to a prior DUI conviction, the CHP said. In addition, he was involved in a second hit-and-run shortly after the fatal crash when he smashed into a parked vehicle near San Pablo Dam Road, right off the El Portal onramp, not far from the original crash site.

One of the cars involved in the wreck overturned, according to the CHP. The driver of that car was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries, but four passengers in the car were pronounced dead at the scene.

Sources told NBC Bay Area the lone survivor in that vehicle is Jared Horn, of Napa, a star baseball player for Cal, and the victims may be members of Horn's family. But authorities did not release the names of any victims. 

Six others, including a child, were also injured in the crash involving five vehicles, according to the CHP.

The freeway was shut down for about seven hours overnight, the CHP said.

The CHP said it typically sees a spike in impaired drivers around the holidays. The department has been operating under what’s called a maximum enforcement period. That means more officers on the highways across the Bay Area, with a goal of keeping people safe.

"In our area, we have a lot of really bad collisions, a lot of fatalities, and so we are really stopping and slowing people down to prevent those collisions," CHP Officer Charlotte Brannon said.

Another issue is drivers and passengers not wearing seatbelts. The CHP said of 27 fatalities a year ago in its jurisdiction, 14 were not wearing seatbelts.

NBC Bay Area's Anser Hassan contributed to this report.

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