Two people killed in a head-on crash caused by a wrong-way driver on Interstate Highway 680 in Danville early Sunday morning have been identified by the Contra Costa County coroner’s office.
Nettie Perkett, 46, and Taurean Lee, 26, both of Antioch, died in the crash reported at about 3:45 a.m. Sunday on northbound Highway 680 near El Pintado Road.
A driver later identified as 27-year-old Concord resident Camille Kimball was driving a 2020 Ford Fusion south in the northbound lanes and crashed into a 2012 Honda Civic driven by Perkett with Lee as her passenger,
according to the California Highway Patrol.
Both victims died at the scene, while Kimball survived and was taken to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. While at the hospital, she was arrested on suspicion of felony driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter, CHP officials said.
People on social media mourned the deaths of Perkett and Lee, saying they were co-workers on their way home. A GoFundMe account created to support Perkett’s family had raised nearly $2,000 as of Tuesday morning.
Anyone with information about the collision or the events leading up to it is asked to contact the Contra Costa-area CHP office at (925) 646-4980.
19 comments
The survivor families should be able to beat the perp with a baseball bat
The survivor families should receive assistance from the perp or her family to assist with funeral expenses instead of having to set up a “Go Fund Me” account!
Start slapping manslaughter or 2nd degree murder charges on DUIs. You KNOW you’ll probably kill someone driving while intoxicated and yet STILL get behind the wheel.
That’s exactly what she was charged with! It was in the article!
People have been charged with second-degree murder for killing someone while driving drunk!
Did the bars just reopen?
They had just lifted the curfew.. Her selfie facebook states she works at
Va de Vi Bistro & Wine Bar
1511 Mt. Diablo Blvd. Walnut Creek, CA 94596; (925) 979-0100 …
Will she lose her job? or will she get a go fund me page like all the rest of the freeloaders out there. News at 11
The drunk seems to always survive. Is this because their muscles are not tense? Do the sober die because they tense up? Would appreciate hearing from you law enforcement officers. Thanks in advance.
I suspect that in this case it had a lot to do with the fact that a Fusion weighs around 3,500 pounds vs ~2,800 for the Civic and 8 more years of safety improvements for the Ford. The Fusion is also longer and most likely has more crush space to better dissipate the kinetic energy as well. Physics and technology were in the drunk’s favor in this case.
It also could have been an offset crash that mostly hit the unoccupied passenger side of the Fusion, or a lot of other different factors. Bottom line is, the guilty survived while the innocent died.
We have what we call “ The rule of lug nuts” . Generally the vehicle with the most lug nuts ( which equates to weight ) wins. Having seen lots of fatal collisions involving drunks and sober people I have no idea if intoxication mitigates injuries, but I doubt it. I guarantee , out scout , beyond a doubt , that seat belts save a lot of lives. A lot.
I was an EMT for a while back in the 80s. We pulled many victims from drunk vs. sober accidents. The drunk people almost always had minor injuries – our theory was because they were relaxed and “floppy” during the collision which resulted in bruises rather than broken bones. Think about any accidents you might have been in when you braced against the impact – seems like the right instinct, but in that situation you’re setting yourself up for dislocated shoulders or broken bones.
I don’t care how many crash improvements are in vehicles. When you have a head on collision, all of those improvements will not help dissipate the kinetic energy of the people in the vehicles! At freeway speeds your internal organs are still moving at those speeds after a collision and that’s what usually kills people! There’s no way to prevent that!
That is so true. I remember the G Force shock sensors that they used to use on MythBusters. I remember thinking yesterday what would happen if you hit a tree right off the side of the freeway. Even if you had your seatbelt your body might not survive the sudden G forces that occur when your vehicle stops from 60 miles an hour to zero
Camille Kimball will have to live with herself and her deed! Sure hope she never gets behind the wheel of any motor vehicle again.
And the liberals and socialists want to defund law enforcement. Will we just try to move around all the wrecks and bodies in the future?
Will the DA’s and their lackluster offices finally not have a job since they already do not prosecute those that should be punished for their offenses and in jail or will the DA’s find other entitlement issues to shove down our throats?
Just asking!
Sam Malone – Did the current level of law enforcement funding prevent this tragedy? How much additional funding would it take to have prevented this from happening? The answer is the same for every level of funding – we’ll never have a cop on every corner and we needed someone to take the a drunk’s keys away.
Nasty scene. Passed the aftermath in the opposite direction. Can’t imagine, with that light of traffic at that time, how someone could be that intoxicated to even get on at a off ramp let alone drive at those speeds the wrong way! Total destruction is what i witnessed!
Punishment for DUI in El Salvador is death. Maybe we can learn something from those people. This juicebag who was driving the car that killed those innocent people had a long rap sheet.
Maybe it’s time to install one-way spike strips on off-ramps.
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