A 20-year-old Tracy man was killed in the predawn hours Saturday at 4:30 a.m. on southbound Highway 99 near the Main Street overpass in Ripon.  

Two Tracy women, 21 and 22 were injured in the collision of four vehicles with the last motorist involved leaving the scene, according to a CHP report.

A motorist had left his 1999 Honda on the edge of the roadway that served as a hazard to oncoming traffic. It was hit by a 2000 Chevrolet traveling south and then a 2012 Volkswagen. The last vehicle involved in the crash, fatally struck the first driver and drove on southward toward Modesto.

A CHP officer from the Stanislaus office in Modesto came across the multiple vehicle crash and summoned medics. 

The officer’s report indicated the Honda had been parked on the right shoulder of the freeway, unoccupied with its hazard lights activated and flashing.  The oncoming Chevrolet with its 20-year-old male Tracy driver approached the disabled Honda at an unknown rate of speed and drifted off the side of the southbound lanes and collided with the parked vehicle.  While the Honda remained on the shoulder, the Chevrolet ended up in the number two lane of the roadway and the driver exited his car and stood on the shoulder next to the disabled Honda. 

At that point the Volkswagen, driven by a 21-year-old Tracy woman, failed to see the Chevrolet, because she was reportedly looking at the first driver standing on the right shoulder, colliding with the Chevrolet. Both vehicles came to rest in the center median.

The Tracy man who had been driving the Chevrolet then walked into the traffic lanes and was struck by an unknown gray vehicle that sped away from the accident scene leaving him in the roadway.  He was subsequently declared dead by medical personnel and later transported to the San Joaquin County morgue.

The woman driver of the Volkswagen was transported by ambulance to Kaiser Hospital in Modesto and a passenger, 22, from the Volkswagen was taken to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto. 

Saturday morning freeway traffic was backed up for hours after the CHP closed down the southbound lanes while their major accident investigation team worked to determine the cause of the collisions.  Motorists were rerouted through Ripon’s surface streets , taking them off Highway 99 at Jack Tone Road and back onto the freeway at the Main Street on ramp. 

To contact Glenn Kahl, email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.