5 killed in California crash; Survivor allegedly steals car and flees

After an SUV crash on a highway south of Sacramento killed five people, a man believed to be the sole survivor attacked a motorist who was stopping to help, the California Highway Patrol said.

The solo vehicle accident occurred around 5:30 p.m. Thursday on the dual carriageway River Road (Highway 160) along the Sacramento River near Freeport. A Cadillac Escalade believed to be carrying six people went off the road and crashed into a tree on the east bank of the river. The CHP said three women and two men were killed.

When the driver of a Volkswagen sedan stopped at the scene of the accident a few moments later, a man impounded the car and drove away. The carjacker is said to come from the Cadillac, the CHP said.

Alerted to the car theft, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputies discovered the Volkswagen and chased it to Elk Grove, where the thief left it on Elk Grove Boulevard near the Valley Hi golf course.

The carjacker fled on foot, ran through yards and then climbed over a fence and ran across the golf course. Deputies found a suspect on a residential street on the eastern edge of the course and he was taken into custody.

The suspect is said to have been unharmed, as was the person whose car was stolen.