LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Two Northshore residents have died of the injuries they sustained in a Saturday afternoon solo-vehicle wreck near Clearlake Oaks.
Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office identified one of the victims as Richard Joseph Adams, 69, of Nice.
A 59-year-old woman from Clearlake Oaks who was riding in the car with Adams was flown to Solano County, where she died of her injuries. The release of her name was not immediately available.
Justin Hendrix, 33, of Woodland, also was in the car at the time of the wreck. He sustained major injuries and was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment, according to the California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office.
Adams was driving a blue 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer westbound on Highway 20, east of the intersection of Morine Ranch Road in Clearlake Oaks, at an unknown rate of speed at approximately 4:51 p.m. Saturday, the CHP reported.
The CHP said the crash occurred when Adams drove off the roadway, onto the right shoulder of Highway, where the front of his vehicle hit three separate trees.
After the wreck, the Chevrolet came to a rest on the north shoulder of Highway 20, east of the intersection of Morine Ranch Road, on three wheels – with the left rear wheel elevated, according to the report.
Adams was pronounced deceased in the driver seat, the CHP said, while Hendrix and the woman were extricated and transported by REACH helicopters out of the county.
The CHP said Adams was wearing his seatbelt, while the female passenger, who was riding in the right front seat, and Hendrix, seated in the rear of the vehicle, were unrestrained.
Neither drugs nor alcohol are suspected as factors in this wreck, the CHP said.
This article has been updated to show that the second crash victim was in fact flown to Solano County, not Sonoma County, has had been reported to Lake County News.
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