Distracted driver triggers multiple-car fatal crash along Interstate 80, CHP says
A multiple-vehicle crash Friday afternoon on eastbound Interstate 80, east of Penryn Road, resulted in the death of a Meadow Vista man, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Auburn-area officers arrived about 4 p.m. and reported finding the driver, 57, of a Toyota Highlander unresponsive, authorities said. The officers began life-saving efforts, but the man was pronounced dead by Placer County fire personnel.
According to Highway Patrol, 66-year-old Donald H. Harmon, also of Meadow Vista, was driving a GMC pickup east on I-80 in the No. 1 lane at an unsafe speed when he looked down at his phone. When he looked up, the CHP said, Harmon saw traffic was slowing suddenly.
Police said Harmon hit the rear end of the Highlander, pushing the SUV into the rear end of a Toyota Sienna containing Roseville residents Oleksandr Borysov, 44, Hanna Borysova, 30, and two 1-year-old children. Borysov and Borysova suffered minor injuries. No injuries were noted for the children.
Harmon was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs and was taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center with possible broken ribs.
The number 1 and 2 lanes of eastbound traffic were shut down for about three hours.
