LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The California Highway Patrol is asking for the community’s help in locating the driver who fled the scene after being involved in a solo-vehicle crash that injured a Middletown woman early Wednesday morning.
Suann Gates, 54, was injured in the wreck, which occurred at about 1 a.m. Wednesday on Highway 29 north of Spruce Grove Road South, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The name of the driver hasn’t yet been released. CHP Officer Kory Reynolds said it’s believed that Gates knows who the man is and investigators are working to confirm his identity before releasing it to the public.
They’re also trying to work out how it was that the male driver was behind the wheel of the 1998 Toyota Tercel involved in the wreck; the CHP said the vehicle belonged to Gates, who was riding as the passenger.
At 1 a.m. Wednesday the man was driving the Toyota southbound on Highway 29, north of Spruce Grove Road South, when he made an unsafe turning movement and failed to negotiate a turn in the roadway, the CHP said.
As a result, the Toyota went off the roadway and traveled down a steep embankment. The CHP report said that when the vehicle reached the bottom of the embankment it continued to travel in an open grassy field until the front of it hit a barbed wire fence. The Toyota came to rest approximately 150 feet west of Highway 29.
Following the crash, the driver fled the scene, the CHP said.
“He took off and left her there, injured,” Reynolds said.
Gates, who was sitting in the front right passenger seat of the Toyota, had been wearing her seat belt. The CHP said she sustained minor to moderate injuries with a complaint of back pain.
She initially was transported to Restoration House in Lower Lake, a transitional housing facility run by Adventist Health Clear Lake, before she was taken by ambulance to the hospital, the CHP said.
Reynolds said investigators are hoping someone saw the man walking from the scene or may have given him a ride and can offer help in locating him.
Any witnesses not contacted by the CHP at the scene or anyone with information regarding the crash are asked to call the Clear Lake Area CHP office at 707-279-0103.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
CHP seeks hit and run driver
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On