CAR CRASH: CHP Officer, Novato Resident Injured in Crash
December 21, 2010
Novato – A California Highway Patrol officer and a local man suffered minor injuries Monday afternoon after a woman driving on the rain-soaked pavement of Highway 101 in Marin County lost control of her car, the CHP said.
The accident happened around 1 pm on the northbound lane of the highway near Atherton Avenue, where Melissa Maldanado, 22, was driving her burgundy 1970 Chevrolet pickup truck. According to the CHP, she attempted to brake as she drew nearer the slowed traffic, but lost control of the truck and skidded onto the right shoulder.
Around that time, a CHP officer was standing outside of a parked patrol car while responding to a two-car collision near Atherton Avenue exit, according to CHP Officer Chris Rardin. Maldanado’s pickup struck the patrol car, pushing it into the officer, before slamming into the back of a black 2004 GMC pickup also parked on the shoulder.
The officer and his patrol car were thrown onto a grassy embankment east of the roadway. The patrol car came to rest with its passenger wheels.
The officer and an occupant of the black pickup, David Hambly, both suffered minor injuries and were taken to Marin General Hospital. Two other occupants with Hambly were not injured.
Rardin said that Maldanado was traveling at an unsafe speed before the accident. She was uninjured. The Marin division of CHP is still investigating the accident.