By Michael van cassell staff writer
Hollister
– The California Highway Patrol is investigating a two-car
collision on Highway 25 in which one unlicensed driver fled and
four others were taken to area hospitals Monday.
Hollister – The California Highway Patrol is investigating a two-car collision on Highway 25 in which one unlicensed driver fled and four others were taken to area hospitals Monday.
The wreck occurred shortly after 4pm near Briggs Road on Highway 25 after a brown van rear-ended a late-model sedan, leaving the van smashed against a tree. The driver of the van left his wife and infant in the vehicle and fled on foot into an orchard on the east side of Highway 25, according to law enforcement officials. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Temple said.
Both lanes of traffic were stopped when a helicopter airlifted one person to a San Jose-area hospital. Three others involved in the collision were taken by ambulance to Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital in Hollister. Temple said he did not know if alcohol was a factor in the crash.
After the driver of the van fled the scene of the accident, CHP officers found the his green card in the van, Temple said. The man has not yet been named and CHP officials declined to release the names of the victims before family members could be contacted.
CHP officers, assisted by San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies searched cherry orchards near the scene for the man, but as of press time on Monday, no arrests had been made.
