Suspected DUI crash kills road worker on Highway 50 in Sacramento

A road worker on U.S. Highway 50 in Sacramento was killed in a crash involving a suspected drunk driver overnight Monday, authorities said.

The California Highway Patrol said the crash happened at about 12:39 a.m. on an elevated portion of eastbound Highway 50 at the Stockton Boulevard overpass. A crew was performing road construction work in a closed off lane and shoulder when a Honda sedan entered the coned-off lane and struck a construction vehicle.

San Francisco-based Bay Line Cutting and Coring was subcontracted by a Caltrans contractor for the road work along the Highway 99 north ramp to eastbound Highway 50. A Bay Line spokesperson told CBS News Sacramento that a foreman at the site reported the vehicle first hit a truck that had been parked as a barrier to protect workers, and then continued driving, directly hitting the worker who was knocked off the freeway onto Stockton Boulevard below.

The worker was pronounced dead at the scene. CHP Lt. Kris Rolin said the driver of the Honda, a woman in her 20s, fled from the scene and hit another vehicle along Highway 50 but was apprehended shortly after. No one was was hurt in the second collision. Alcohol is a suspected factor in the crashes, according to the CHP.

All eastbound lanes of Highway 50 and Stockton Boulevard were closed for hours until just before 6 a.m. as CHP officers processed the scene.  

Bay Line Cutting and Coring said the identity of the worker has not yet been released.