Local
CHP: Two women killed, two injured when SUV veers off Highway 24 in Orinda
A 20-year-old woman and a 19-year-old woman died at the scene Friday night after the Infiniti SUV they were riding in went off westbound Highway 24 near Camino Pablo, according to the California Highway Patrol. The 19-year-old driver and a 16-year-old passenger were hospitalized.
Two young women were killed and two other people were injured Friday night when the SUV they were riding in veered off westbound state Highway 24 in Orinda, the California Highway Patrol said.
Officers were dispatched at 10:05 p.m. to the single-vehicle crash just east of the Camino Pablo exit, according to the CHP. Four people were inside a gray Infiniti SUV driven by a 19-year-old man.
The driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle and taken to a local hospital with moderate injuries, the highway patrol said.
A 20-year-old woman sitting in the front-right passenger seat, also unbelted, suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. A 19-year-old woman in the rear-right seat, who was wearing a seat belt, was likewise pronounced dead at the scene, according to the CHP.
A 16-year-old boy in the rear-left seat, who was belted, sustained major injuries and was taken to a hospital in critical condition, the highway patrol said.
Investigators do not suspect alcohol or drug impairment as a factor in the crash, the CHP said. The cause remained under investigation Saturday.
Anyone who witnessed the crash or the events leading up to it is asked to contact the CHP's Contra Costa Area office in Martinez at 925-387-1900 or 320Investigations@chp.ca.gov.
The deaths add to a grim toll on the region's highways and come as state and local agencies continue to emphasize seat-belt use and speed reduction as the most effective ways to prevent fatalities in crashes. Highway 24, a key commuter corridor linking Contra Costa County to Oakland and the Caldecott Tunnel, has seen repeated serious collisions in recent years.