Hit-and-run driver sends 3 elderly people to hospital
The report initially came in to Berkeley police as an Apple Watch notification.
A hit-and-run crash sent three elderly people to Highland Hospital on Friday and closed southbound Adeline Street at the Berkeley-Oakland border.
One of the patients, a woman in her 90s, was taken to Highland "Code 2" with a trauma activation, according to radio traffic reviewed by The Scanner, while the others — a man in his late 70s and a woman in her early 80s — appeared to have less serious injuries, according to initial reports.
The airbags in their vehicle did deploy, causing "significant intrusion" for at least two of the patients. One member of the group had facial injuries including a possibly broken nose, according to radio traffic.
The crash report initially came in to Berkeley police as an Apple Watch notification just before 1:50 p.m. about a collision at 62nd Street and MLK in South Berkeley, according to radio traffic.
A Berkeley dispatcher tried to call the Apple Watch owner but there was no answer.
A minute or so later, someone called police to report the two-car crash, according to dispatch traffic.
The Berkeley police and fire departments responded immediately and found the crash scene on MLK just south of Stanford Avenue.
First responders quickly blocked southbound traffic at Stanford for the collision investigation.
Over the radio, the fire department reported moderate damage to both vehicles and a possible extrication needed for the car with the elderly occupants, which may have been broadsided.
In the end, firefighters were able to get the elderly patients out without needing to extricate them, the Berkeley Fire Department told The Scanner.
The two people who appeared to have less serious injuries were taken to the hospital as a largely precautionary measure, authorities said.
Police quickly determined that the driver of a white Volvo with a Pittsburg address had ditched the car and fled the scene on foot, according to radio traffic.
Berkeley police called for tow trucks to remove both vehicles from the scene.
All three southbound lanes of Martin Luther King Jr. Way (which becomes Adeline Street above Stanford Avenue) were blocked until at least 2:45 p.m.
The collision investigation is ongoing, Berkeley police told TBS.
No additional details were immediately available.
