Fleeing wrong-way driver smashes into vehicles in Oakland's MacArthur Maze; 1 dead, 3 injured
A wrong-way driver fleeing from a robbery at a tobacco shop in El Cerrito crashed into two other vehicles on Interstate Highway 580 in the MacArthur Maze in Oakland Tuesday morning, leaving one person dead and three others with major injuries.
According to El Cerrito police, the incident began around 4:20 a.m. when officers responded to a burglary at the Tobacco Outlet on San Pablo Avenue. Officers said the driver of a pickup rammed the vehicle into the front of a business before fleeing.
An officer responding to the call spotted the pickup and attempted to pull over the vehicle, but the driver did not stop.
The officer chased the suspects onto westbound Interstate Highway 80, following them to the Bay Bridge toll plaza. After westbound I-80 merged with westbound I-580, police said the suspect abruptly changed direction and began to drive the wrong way.
Police said the officer did not follow the suspects, ended the pursuit and exited the freeway.
The California Highway Patrol said the wrong-way vehicle was going eastbound in the westbound lanes and hit two other vehicles headed west. The wrong-way vehicle had two people inside who sustained major injuries, while the solo driver of a white van also suffered major injuries in the wreck.
The solo driver of a BMW was killed in the crash, the CHP said.
In an update Tuesday afternoon, El Cerrito Police identified the driver of the wrong-way vehicle as 34-year-old Patrick Sheckells of Oakland and the passenger as 56-year-old Andre Alberty of San Francisco. Police said they are working with the California Highway Patrol to pursue charges.
Following the crash, all three westbound lanes where I-580 merges into I-80 on the approach to the Bay Bridge were blocked. The right lane was reopened shortly after 6 a.m.
The crash backed up morning commute traffic heading toward the Bay Bridge on Highway 580/80 and on westbound State Route 24.
Lanes were fully reopened by 8 a.m.
Later, the owner of the smoke shop told CBS News Bay Area he woke up to a cell phone notification about the break-in.
"I woke up and looked at my cameras, saw that there was a pick-up truck backed into the store. Guys were rummaging around," said the owner, who gave his name as Omar. "The whole front [of the store] was pushed in. Extensive damage. Almost looked like a total loss. This could be about $50,000 in damage. I don't know if I can afford to fix that."
Shocking video shows the moment two suspects backed a white truck into the front of the Tobacco Outlet in El Cerrito—destroying the façade before taking thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.
The suspects then spent about three minutes filling up their bags. The owner of the shop was furious about the disregard such thieves have towards others.
"They act like they're on a game show, just grabbing what they could and running out. It was just fun and games for them," said Omar. "They don't care about small businesses. They don't care about people trying to make a living. For them this is just fun. Our business isn't covered by insurance. Our insurance company dropped us because of instances like this. So it's coming out of our pockets."
Omar said while the loss to his business is bad, it's nothing compared to the innocent life lost in the freeway collision.
"This gentleman was on his way to work and just out of nowhere, that was it. It ended for him. He thought he was going to have a good day, go home, see the family, but these scumbags decided that's not going to happen today," Omar said. "No amount of money is worth taking someone's life."
Omar said this wasn't the first time the location has been targeted. He said his shop has been burglarized six times.