South Lake Tahoe, CA…CHP is reporting an accident on February 14th at approximately 1:00 p.m. The driver of a dark blue Toyota along with five passengers was traveling west on State Route 88, just east of the Kirkwood Inn. For an unknown reason the driver allowed her Toyota to leave the road way and collide with a snow embankment on the south side of the road. At about this time a driver of a dark green pickup truck and her passenger were also traveling West on State Route 88 approached the collision scene. For an unknown reason the Chevrolet collided with the Toyota causing both vehicles to become disabled within the traffic lanes.

Moments later a black Chevrolet also driving westbound approached the scene of the collision. In order to avoid another collision the driver steered his vehicle to the right directly into a snowbank on the north side of the road and becoming lodged in the snowbank. After the Chevrolet driven by Christian Nelson collided with the snowbank an Oldsmobile driven by Steffens Jr. approached the scene. Steffens Jr. steered his vehicle to the right in order to avoid one collision and ended up colliding with the rear of Nelson’s Chevrolet on the North shoulder.

This is being investigated as four separate traffic collisions. Each collision had stabilized prior to the next one occurring.

Eight people were transported from the scene with minor to major injuries. Seven via ambulance to Barton, one was flown to Renown.

From Gonzalez’s dark blue Toyota:
Maria Gonzalez, San Jose, moderate injuries
Francisco De La Torre, San Jose, moderate injuries
Isabel Jimenez-Corona, San Jose, moderate injuries
9 year old male, San Jose, minor injuries
4 year old female, San Jose, major injuries, life flight to Renown
9 month old female, San Jose, no injuries

From Carver’s dark green Chevrolet:
Karen Carver, Chico, minor injuries
Mary Lou Eimer, South Lake Tahoe, moderate injuries