LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Authorities are investigating a double-fatal crash that occurred near Upper Lake Monday morning.
The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office said the head-on crash occurred at 6:24 a.m. Monday on Highway 20 east of Witter Springs Road.
The CHP said the driver who is believed to have precipitated the crash has been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.
The names of the two men who died — one in each of the vehicles involved — were not released Monday pending their identification and the notification of their families.
The CHP said that the vehicles involved were a 2000 Nissan Frontier pickup and a 2011 Toyota Prius.
The pickup’s driver, a male Ukiah resident, was traveling westbound on Highway 20 at an unknown speed with two male passengers, a 44-year-old man from Ukiah, with the second passenger’s city of residence not known by authorities as of Monday, according to the report.
The CHP said the pickup driver steered the vehicle into the opposing eastbound lane while attempting to pass other vehicles and collided head-on with a 2011 Toyota Prius driven by a 59-year-old man from Miranda.
The Prius driver and the Ukiah resident in the pickup both died as a result of the crash, while the pickup driver and his other passenger were extricated from that vehicle and sustained major injuries, the CHP said.
The CHP said alcohol intoxication is suspected to be a contributing factor in the cause of this crash and, as a result, the pickup’s driver was arrested for driving under the influence at the scene before he was airlifted to a hospital in Vacaville.
The two drivers and the Ukiah passenger in the pickup were reported to have been wearing their seat belts. It was not noted in the report if the pickup’s second passenger, who survived, was using safety equipment.
The crash remains under investigation by CHP Officer K. Brown.
This is the second double-fatal to happen in the stretch of Highway 20 between Upper Lake and the Lake and Mendocino County line in the past month and a half.
On Dec. 26, two female drivers, one from Lakeport and one from Redwood Valley, were killed on Highway 20 west of Bachelor Valley Road — a short distance from Witter Springs Road — when they collided head-on after one crossed over the double-yellow lines.
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Head-on crash near Upper Lake kills two; driver arrested for DUI
- Elizabeth Larson
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