LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The California Highway Patrol said Tuesday that a south county wreck on Sunday evening claimed the life of a Middletown man, with the driver arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter.
The CHP’s Clear Lake Area office identified Samrat Kakkari, 45, as the person who died in the solo-vehicle crash.
The driver, Steven Craig Wilhite Jr., 44, of Calistoga, was arrested after the crash, authorities said.
The Tuesday report said that at approximately 6:58 p.m. Sunday, CHP Clear Lake personnel received a call of a traffic crash involving a solo vehicle rollover on Big Canyon Road, north of Harbin Springs Road, near Middletown.
When the officers arrived, they determined that the vehicle, a pickup, overturned several times, ejecting a passenger and causing fatal injuries, the CHP said.
Radio reports on Sunday night indicated that Kakkari was trapped under the bed of the pickup, which was on its side, blocking Big Canyon Road, as Lake County News has reported.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and South Lake County Fire also responded to the scene to assist with medical aid, the CHP said.
The CHP said the preliminary investigation determined that Wilhite was driving his Dodge Ram pickup while under the influence of a controlled substance while Kakkari was riding in the front right passenger seat of Wilhite’s truck.
Wilhite, the report said, “was driving at unsafe speeds on a dirt/gravel roadway causing him to lose control of his vehicle, which overturned and ejected Kakkari.”
The CHP said South Lake County firefighters worked to save his life but Kakkari died of his injuries at the scene.
Neither Wilhite nor Kakkari were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash, the CHP said.
Wilhite was arrested and treated for his injuries before being booked at the Lake County Jail for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and felony DUI, the CHP reported.
Lake County Jail records showed that Wilhite remained in custody on Tuesday afternoon, with bail set at $1,030,000.
Email Elizabeth Larson at