LIVINGSTON, Calif. (AP) - Investigators with the California Highway Patrol suspect alcohol played a role in a wrong-way collision on a Central Valley highway that left four people dead.
The CHP says a 40-year-old Modesto man was driving north in the southbound lanes of Highway 99 in Livingston around 5:30 p.m. Sunday at speeds up to 80 mph when he collided head-on with a vehicle carrying six people. The six were heading home to Panorama City in suburban Los Angeles.
The wrong-way driver died, along with three people in the southbound vehicle - a 2003 GMC Sierra. Two passengers in the Sierra, 6-year-old Destiny and 5-year-old Kimberly Morales, are hospitalized with traumatic injuries. The Sierra's 37-year-old driver, Guillermo Girabaldi, is in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The names of the deceased have not been released.
The CHP says toxicology reports are pending, but alcohol likely was involved.
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