The wrong place at the wrong time – that’s how officers described the death of a young woman, 22, who was thrown from a Lincoln Continental just after 11:30 p.m. Thursday, struck by a 2007 BMW M6 trying to speed away from CHP officers.
CHP Officer Sam Morgan said that officers spotted the BMW speeding on 98th Avenue near Bancroft Avenue, off Interstate Highway 580.
The driver of the BMW - 34-year-old Saint Dejuan Moore of Oakland - originally stopped. But Morgan said when officers approached his car, Moore allegedly took off towards Golf Links Road. A half a mile away, the BMW broadsided a black Lincolnwith five passengers all in their mid to early 20s who were trying to make a left-hand turn onto eastbound Highway 580.
The Lincoln landed on the grass on the side of the road, the young woman was ejected from the middle backseat of the car and then pronounced dead on scene.
Police said she was wearing her seatbelt at the time of the impact. Rescue crews cut her seat belt off and tried to resuscitate her but were unable to revive her. The four others in the Lincoln survived, three with moderate to major injuries taken to both Highland and Eden hospitals.
“They were simply minding their own business,” said Morgan. “Wrong place, wrong time.”
It took the Alameda County Coroner’s Office nearly nine hours to get to the crash site; there were three other homicides in other parts of the city overnight.
Oakland police, who have taken over the fatal traffic collision investigation, arrested Moore after he tried to run away from the crash site. The passenger who was with him was still unaccounted for by noon.
Jim Kim, the owner of a store on the same block of the fatal accident, said in the 20 years he’s been there, he’s surprised there haven’t been more serious collisions. Kim added that locals regard that stretch of 98th Avenue crossing the 580 on ramp as a notoriously dangerous straightaway. “The only incident that I remember is two-to-three years ago, we had an accident like that. The kid was coming down too fast from the hill and got in a major accident.”
Police do not believe the BMW was stolen. The county is performing toxicology reports to determine whether Moore was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
A person died late Thursday in Oakland when the driver of a BMW didn't stop for police and crashed into a Lincoln Continental carrying several passengers, police said Friday.
The Alameda County Coroner arrived at 8:15 a.m. Friday to retrieve the body at the intersection of Bancroft and 98th avenues in Oakland, following the 11:20 p.m. Thursday crash.
Local
An image from the NBC Bay Area helicopter showed a damaged black Lincoln Continental and gray BMW M6 car nearby on the street, close to Interstate Highway 580.
The California Highway Patrol said that officers were called to help out at a two-car collision, where the BMW driver had been arrested.
Aside from the passenger who was ejected from the Lincoln and later died, sources said there were three or four others injured.
