A teenager and five young adults were injured — four of them badly — in a head-on crash Wednesday night on Highway 108/120 between Oakdale and Knights Ferry.
The collision, just east of Lancaster Road, happened about 9:20 p.m. A 17-year-old resident of Mountain House in San Joaquin County was driving west on the highway, alone in a 2004 Chevrolet SUV, said California Highway Patrol Modesto office spokesman Officer Tom Olsen.
The driver, Catherine Mae King Velvetrose, allowed her vehicle to partially enter the eastbound lane, directly into the path of a 2001 Chevrolet Silverado pickup, Olsen said. Velvetrose suffered minor injuries and was taken to Oak Valley Hospital in Oakdale for treatment.
The pickup was driven by Sonora resident Sebastian Ruiz, 20, who had four passengers. Ruiz suffered major injuries and was pinned in the truck.
After firefighters extricated him, he was taken by air ambulance to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto for treatment of major injuries, Olsen said.
Available information on Ruiz’s passengers was limited Thursday morning. All are young adult males, likely between the ages of 18 and 20, Olsen said.
One of them suffered minor injuries and was taken to Oak Valley Hospital. The other three suffered major injuries and were taken to Modesto trauma centers, probably at both Memorial and Doctors medical centers, Olsen said.
Olsen said the four major-injury patients were airlifted. He said drugs and/or alcohol don’t appear to factor in the collision.
One-way traffic control was in place as Ruiz was extricated and the scene was cleared, but traffic on the highway that time of night was light, Olsen said.
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