LAKE COUNTY — Four separate crashes during the Labor Day Weekend left six people injured and one person dead, according to reports from the California Highway Patrol.
The CHP Tuesday identified the two surviving victims of a Monday rollover crash as Lower Lake residents Arturo Cerna, 18, and Charles Barron, 18. Cerna was driving his 1993 Jeep north at a high speed on Highway 29 south of Kelseyville Auto Salvage when he drifted onto a gravel shoulder.
The CHP report said Cerna overcorrected, and the Jeep rotated counterclockwise across the opposing lane and down a steep embankment, where it hit an oak tree and rolled onto its right side.
The Jeep “immediately burst into flames and became fully engulfed in a very short time,” according to the CHP report.
“Barron is in critical condition,” CHP officer Adam Garcia said.
Kelseyville resident Gary Hoertkorn was driving by after the accident and stopped to pull Barron from the burning vehicle just moments before it was fully engulfed in flames, according to the CHP report.
Barron was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with major injuries including severe head injury and a transverse fracture in his upper body. Cerna suffered a large laceration on his head and pain in his right leg, according to the report.
Less than 20 minutes later Monday afternoon, motorcycle rider Everette Weller, 65, was severely injured when he hit two cars that were stopped because of the rollover wreck. The CHP report says Weller aggressively tried to stop, but sideswiped a silver BMW and hit a 1988 Ford Ranger. Weller was thrown onto the pavement and suffered major life-threatening injuries, according to a CHP report.
Weller was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he is in critical condition, according to Garcia.
The CHP Tuesday identified James O”Donnell, 44, of Santa Rosa, as the motorcycle rider who died Sunday night when he hit a boulder on the side of the main access road at Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa. According to the CHP, he was driving at an unsafe speed and lost control. O”Donnell and his passenger Shelly Grove, 44, of Santa Rosa, were thrown into nearby trees and rocks.
Grove is in critical condition at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, according to Garcia. He said O”Donnell was believed to have been under the influence of alcohol, pending a toxicology report.
The CHP also reported Rio Linda resident Brian Hazelwood, 19, was thrown from the back seat of a 2008 KIA Rio on Monday. Driver Evan Kaniss, 19, of Clearlake, veered off of Spruce Grove Road at a high speed into a drainage ditch and flipped the car several times. Hazelwood was not wearing a seatbelt, and was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial with major internal injuries, according to the CHP.
Kaniss was not injured, according to the CHP report, and passenger Alfonso Villeoa, 20, of Clearlake, suffered minor injuries.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com or call her direct at 263-5636 ext. 37.
