Crime & Safety
Fairfield Mother, Daughter, 6, Injured When 'Distracted' Driver Rams Their Disabled Car on I-680/780
The child was life-flighted to hospital with major facial injuries. The mother, 42, transported to John Muir, Walnut Creek, after Benicia man "checked his radio" and hit their vehicle on freeway shoulder.
A mother and her 6-year-old daughter were injured Tuesday night when a car slammed into the rear of their disabled vehicle on the shoulder of a highway connector in Benicia, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The girl, who was wearing a seat belt in the back seat, was extricated from the 1-foot space between the front and rear seats of the 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle, CHP Officer Chris Parker said.
She suffered major facial trauma and was flown to Children's Hospital Oakland, Parker said.
The collision happened around 8 p.m. when the Chevelle broke down on the shoulder of the single lane of the southbound Interstate Highway 680 connector to westbound Highway 780, Parker said.
The 42-year-old Fairfield resident driving the Chevelle got out of the vehicle before a 2007 Subaru Forester driven south on Highway 680 by Joshua Levina, 33 of Benicia, slammed into the back of it without braking at 55 mph, Parker said.
Levina said he was looking down at his radio when his car drifted onto the right shoulder, Parker said.
The Chevelle driver's 43-year-old wife, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, suffered contusions and was taken to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Parker said.
The woman and her daughter lost consciousness at the scene, Parker said. The driver and Levina were not injured, he said.
Alcohol is not suspected to be a factor in the crash, but Levina could face charges related to distracted driving, Parker said.
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