MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Lake County’s sheriff was involved in a collision with a pedestrian while driving along Highway 29 in Middletown on Monday evening.
The California Highway Patrol said the pedestrian, 34-year-old Clinton Turney of Middletown, suffered minor injuries when he was hit by a pickup driven by Sheriff Frank Rivero.
According to an initial report from CHP Officer Greg Buchholz, Rivero, 53, was driving his 2001 GMC pickup northbound on Highway 29 approaching Wardlaw Street at 7:50 p.m. when the crash occurred.
Turney was crossing Highway 29 at Wardlaw, where the intersection is controlled by signal lights and has crosswalks, the CHP said.
Buchholz’s report said Rivero saw Turney and applied his brakes but was unable to avoid hitting him.
The CHP said Turney was transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, the region’s trauma center, via air ambulance as a precaution.
The CHP said the collision is still under investigation, and additional details about the incident weren’t available Monday night.
Unconfirmed witness reports posted on Lake County News’ Facebook page Monday evening suggested that Turney may have been at fault.
A woman who said she witnessed the crash posted on the page that the incident was not Rivero’s fault, and that she saw Turney step out in front of the sheriff’s pickup.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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