RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - A California Highway Patrol (CHP) pursuit of what turned out to be a stolen car ended badly for the driver and his female passenger. His vehicle broadsided an SUV, hit a pole and burst into flames on Jackson Highway at Murieta Parkway at about 8:15 p.m. July 29, according to the CHP and a witness account.

Two CHP officers following the car stopped and pulled the couple out of the fiery wreck. Both suffered major injuries and he died at the hospital the following morning.

The three occupants of the Rivian SUV, driven by a Rancho Murieta woman, were hospitalized for moderate injuries. Three teens on two golf carts managed to stop before entering the intersection.

The intersection became a spectacular light show due to the flashing lights from 11 marked patrol cars, several fire engines, at least four ambulances and other vehicles with emergency lights in what was deemed a multi-casualty incident (MCI). Although Jackson Highway was blocked off from the western side of the intersection to Cantova Drive for many hours, Rancho Murieta residents could get in and out of the community.

CHP Officer Trent Senter, the public information officer for the East Sacramento office, said an Amador CHP officer saw a red Hyundai Elantra traveling at a high rate of speed on Highway 88 and tried to stop it. When the driver failed to yield, the officer initiated a pursuit. The Hyundai continued to flee onto Highway 49 and then merged onto Jackson Highway heading west. As it approached Murieta Parkway, the driver of a Rivian was traveling south (from the North Gate). After the two vehicles collided in the intersection, the Hyundai caught on fire.

Senter said that two Amador CHP officers managed to remove the two occupants from the burning Hyundai. Both suffered major injuries and were transported by ambulance. The female driver of the Rivian and her two passengers, an adult female and a male, sustained moderate injuries and were transported by ambulance. The CHP later discovered that the Hyundai was a stolen vehicle, although Senter did not have information on where it had been stolen from. Senter also confirmed that the Hyundai driver died at the hospital. At the time, Senter did not have any information about the ages or communities of residence of the occupants in either vehicle.

Several Rancho Murieta residents reported that a CHP helicopter took part in the pursuit and circled the intersection several times. Rancho Murieta resident Parsha Miller witnessed the entire accident and provided information about the three occupants in the Rivian.

Miller said the three extricated themselves and walked to the grassy area by the fire station. The driver was a Rancho Murieta resident who was transporting her daughter in the passenger seat and her daughter’s boyfriend in the back seat on the driver’s side. The boyfriend texted Miller the next morning. He said the driver, Gabbie, was released from the hospital after treatment for a concussion but he, Nathanial, and her daughter, Lizzy were still in the hospital waiting for tests. Miller also reported that three teenagers in two separate golf carts were able to stop before entering the intersection.

Miller’s account follows.

Traveling west on Jackson Highway coming from the south to the north to go home, Miller stopped for the red light and was waiting in the right-hand lane. She saw the Rivian begin to cross the highway from the North entrance. At the same time, she saw the two golf carts on Murieta Parkway next to the Chevron station about to enter the intersection.  

“All of a sudden, I heard a whizzing noise behind me and saw the red vehicle going at least 100 mph hit the left front fender and driver’s door (of the SUV),” she said. “The Rivian spun into the opposing lane and the red car ricocheted straight into some kind of pole. The rear end bounced about 10 feet high, came down and caught fire.”

Miller also heard an explosion and then sirens. Two CHP patrol cars pulled up and two officers jumped out. Although the car was engulfed in flames, they pulled out the driver. Then they ran to the passenger side and pulled out the woman, although Miller couldn’t see the second rescue.

“It was a sight to see because they were so heroic,” Miller said. “To see them pull those two out, especially the female when the car was engulfed in flames and smoke rising up. I don’t know how they could see or get in there.”

The two officers were Brandon Rodgers and Jim Dann, according to the Amador CHP office.

Miller said that the Rivian driver got out of the vehicle on the passenger side, followed by a young female who had been in the front passenger seat and a young male who had been in the rear left passenger seat.

“They walked to the grassy area by the fire department and sat down,” Miller said. “They looked stunned but didn’t appear to have life-threatening injuries.”

Miller could also see that the side and front airbags had deployed in the Rivian.

“I think the side bags kept them from getting more severely injured,” she said.

Miller said a CHP officer also told her that the size of the Rivian was a factor in their survival.

Miller checked with the young people in the first golf cart to see if their parents had been notified. They were fine, she said. The girl told her that as they started to cross the highway, something red caught her eye. The girl told the boy and he hit the brakes.

Miller didn’t talk to the occupant in the second cart behind them. A hotel employee said the occupant was a 16-year-old boy who also stopped in time.

“I’m so grateful the golf carts weren’t involved,” Miller said.

Miller said that Rodgers, who had been involved in the pursuit, came over to talk to her later. She informed him that she had witnessed the accident and showed him her video of him and the other officer rescuing the two occupants of the burning vehicle.

“He was like, ‘Oh, my God’ when he saw it,” she said. Miller mentioned that she gave Rodgers a hug and repeatedly asked if he was OK. She inspected his hands and arms for burns but Rodgers assured her that he was fine.

Rodgers told her that the pursuit began in San Joaquin County.

“He told me it was a long pursuit traveling well over 100 mph,” Miller said. “He didn’t say what it was about and I don’t know the details why he was chasing him.”

Miller was impressed at how the two officers went on to check the SUV occupants and the youth in the golf cart.

“They just did their jobs,” she said.

This story will be revised as more details become available. The final version will be in the Aug. 9 printed edition of the River Valley Times.