Sacramento County, CA, November 2 – An 18-year-old man died and a juvenile passenger suffered serious injuries after the scooter they were riding collided with a pickup truck Monday afternoon near Sloughhouse in east Sacramento County, according to the California Highway Patrol. The rider died at the scene, and the collision remains under investigation, the agency said. Few other details have been released at this time.
Sacramento County Scooter Rider Killed in Crash Near Sloughhouse
The California Highway Patrol said the crash was reported at approximately 4:10 p.m. near the intersection of Grant Line and Jackson roads. Investigators said the scooter was traveling southbound on Grant Line Road, carrying the 18-year-old rider and a juvenile passenger, when it turned across the roadway. A pickup truck traveling northbound then struck the scooter, CHP said.
The scooter rider was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the California Highway Patrol. The juvenile passenger suffered major injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital. The driver of the pickup truck remained at the scene and has been cooperating with investigators, CHP said. All lanes in the area had reopened by approximately 6:45 p.m. that evening.
The California Highway Patrol said it has not yet determined whether drugs or alcohol contributed to the collision. The names of those involved have not been released, and CHP has not disclosed further details about the circumstances leading up to the crash. The investigation remains active and ongoing, according to the agency.
Lane splitting, and what the Vehicle Code actually says
Vehicle Code section 21658.1 defines lane splitting and authorizes the California Highway Patrol to develop educational guidelines for it. What matters after a crash is the distinction the section draws: lane splitting is not prohibited in California, and not prohibited is not the same thing as legal.
The practical effect is that a rider who was lane splitting has not broken a rule by doing so, and an insurer that treats lane splitting as automatic fault is asserting something the statute does not say. Fault still turns on how each party behaved, the same as in any other collision.
The deadline that applies to a claim like this one
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The same two years covers an injury claim and a death claim; there is no separate, shorter period because someone died.
Who is entitled to bring a claim when someone is killed
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides who may bring a wrongful death action. The first group is the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, whoever would take the estate by intestate succession.
A second group may bring the action only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the person who died where the parents are deceased. Parents are in that second group, which is the part families are most often surprised by, because dependency has to be shown rather than assumed.
Talking to someone about it
Culver Legal represents people injured in collisions across California. A conversation about what happened costs nothing, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we win. If we do not win, we do not pass the case costs on to you either.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about any particular case, and the facts of a reported collision often change as the investigation continues.
