Hit from behind, driver is pushed into oncoming traffic and killed in crash

A Groveland woman was killed in a traffic collision east of Sonora on Wednesday when she was struck from behind, pushing her car into the path of an oncoming pickup truck.

The crash occurred at about 2:45 p.m. on Mono Way. Karen Lynn Collins, 51, was eastbound on Mono, driving a 2006 Honda Civic. Close behind her was 72-year-old William Charles Whitehouse of Twain Harte, driving a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup, according to a California Highway Patrol report on the crash.

Collins slowed to make a left turn onto El Ray Lane, and Whitehouse “failed to slow his vehicle in a timely manner,” Sonora Area CHP Officer Faustino Pulido said in the report. The Ram pickup struck the Civic and Collins was pushed into the westbound lane, where Rolland Anthony DeMartini, driving a 2003 Chevy Silverado, was approaching.

The front of the Civic struck the left front of the Silverado, Pulido said, and Collins was pronounced dead at the scene.

Whitehouse complained of back pain but refused transportation to a hospital. DeMartini, 52 and from Sonora, suffered minor injuries – knee, chest, back and neck pain – and was taken by ambulance to Sonora Regional Medical Center.

All drivers were wearing seat belts, Pulido said. No alcohol or drugs are suspected to be a factor in this collision, which remains under investigation.

This story was originally published June 15, 2017 at 6:40 AM with the headline "Hit from behind, driver is pushed into oncoming traffic and killed in crash."