[UPDATE 4:05 p.m.: EPD Confirms This Involved a Fatality] Multiple Vehicle Crash Involving a Pedestrian Blocks 7th Street in Eureka
Emergency vehicles surround the scene of the critical incident. [Photo provided by a reader]
A woman driver has suffered a back injury and is currently trapped in her vehicle. Emergency crews are working to extricate her safely.
Law enforcement officials have shut down 7th Street. Please avoid the area and seek alternate routes.
We’ve sent a reporter to the scene. Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available.
Emergency Personnel work to help the victims of a crash at 7th and I in Eureka. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
Please remember that information gathered from initial reports is subject to revision as more facts become available.
UPDATE 2:25 p.m.: According to our reporter, Mark McKenna, a pedestrian was hit at 9th and I Street and then four cars were involved in a crash just north of the 7th and I intersection.
Emergency personnel assist one of the injured. [Photo by a witness]
According to the scanner, at least two people were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. CPR was performed on one person, according to a report over the scanner. We believe that was the pedestrian, but we haven’t confirmed that. Below are photos from the scene from our reporter, Mark McKenna.
[Photo by Mark McKenna]
[Photo by Mark McKenna]
[Photo by Mark McKenna]
UPDATE 2:42 p.m.: One vehicle ended up striking a building.
One of the vehicles involved went off the street and into a building. [Photo by a reader]
[Photo by Mark McKenna]
Two the vehicles at the scene. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
Emergency personnel wheel away one of the injured. In the background one car is crashed against a building. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
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Amazing how horrible “accidents” can happen in a 25mph zone. People, open your eyes, drive the sped limit and be aware of your surroundings.
Amazing how many morons leap to conclusions without knowing the facts.
It’s far more likely this was caused by speeding instead of bike lanes.
Ah, looks like one of the morons has responded with a down vote.
They say when you cast a stone among swine, he who is struck will squeal the loudest.
I don’t know I can see how they can mess people up especially younger inexperienced driver’s.
Who, other than yourself, said anything about bike lanes?
Radar units, a grant for traffic officers, raised crosswalks, crosswalks that light up when a button is pushed, any of these might catch or deter the worst offenders, the speeders, and people who have had their license taken but drive anyway.
yea looks like you idiots need to slow down… prayers go out to the ones fighting right now🙏🏽
CPR was performed by a couple of people who stepped up to try and save this man. Unfortunately he did not survive. The only thing that stopped the car that hit him was several cars stopped at a red light at 7th.
If you saw this happen, please contact EPD. They’re asking witnesses to come forward. Really hoping they don’t let the at-fault driver walk away to kill again.
RIP the deceased.
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Well… I guess those insane ‘bike lanes’ and the car wrecking curbs are really working out !
Vote out all the City Council members !
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Remember the names.
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Leslie CastellanoKati MoultonG. Mario FernandezScott BauerRenee Contreras-DeLoach
I see you guys are angry because you don’t understand, and likely are the ones who drive recklessly. Traffic is much less chaotic and speeds have been reduced.
Drive much? If you drive even close to the speed limit on H I 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, Broadway, Harris, Henderson, Harrison, Myrtle, Walnut, F toward the golf cource and so many more you get insatiable amounts of road rage. I drive these daily. Eureka has almost no sane drivers. It’s like they become possessed by the act of getting in a car and are demons with nothing good in mind.
The posted speeds have been reduced in a few places, but they sure as hell haven’t slowed the drivers. Epd still does no traffic patrol. Nothing but signs have changes, no matter what the airheads on the ECC say.
Lately there have been more multi- car accidents than previously, even though there should be less, there aren’t.
A grant for traffic patrol would help, as long as it didn’t take away from the regular duties.
They have received two sizable grants for traffic patrol in the last year. There’s no sign of it being used for patrol, so what did they misappropriate these funds to do?
The next step would be to install speed bumps everywhere. Works well in third world countries just like eureka.
Speaking of which – the recently installed speed bumps in Covelo, while they’ve pissed off some people, have tempered some of the insanity – people in vehicles and on motorbikes going 80+ mph right through the center of town. You might wanna think about it.
I suggested radar units be assigned to these streets many times to the EPD.
Radar units sound like a win win here.
I seldom go to Eureka and have become extra cautious when I drive there. I am a speed limit, turn signal using driver. Doing my best to not be part of the problem.
RIP to the deceased and best wishes for the injured. And a pox on red light runners.
You seem to have some inside information that is not in the article.
Can you please explain how the bike lane contributed to this event?
The bike lanes and bump outs have nothing to do with this accident. I do think people are more agitated now that they have to take an extra 30 seconds to travel H & I.
Those people need to take Xanax.
mmm, benzodiazepine
And the bus
As a frequent pedestrian crosser of H and I near the accident scene, I can volunteer some information as to how the new configuration affects traffic flow and crossing procedures, and definitely not in the direction of safety. First, wait times for traffic to clear have definitely increased during high traffic times. That was predictable, because the “platooning” or bunching, effect of traffic lights is more effective with three lanes than with two. It takes less time for an opening to occur with three lanes of traffic than with two. CalTrans had already advised our City Council airheads on that fact, but they chose to ignore it. Also, the pedestrian waiting position on the traffic side of the bike lane is a lot more exposed than it used to be by the curb lane. The increased risk to pedestrians waiting for an opportunity to cross with the new configuration cannot be ignored by any informed and honest person
You don’t have to stand on the curb extension if you’re scared, you can stand all the way back where the old corner was.
The point of the bulbouts is to make you more visible when you cross so drivers have one less excuse.
Oh come TF on. It’s been there for how long and you’ve come to the conclusion that one, it was the cause and two, it doesn’t work? Because of course everyone assumed as soon as it was in place NO accidents would happen ever again. Damn you must be something like a psychic? Or just a self proclaimed expert on things you really have no idea about.
City Council & County Supes busy tweaking to re-coop low revenue income & find revenue for more trails.
I’m sure glad the eureka city council took millions of taxpayer dollars to squeeze three lanes of traffic into two lanes, because there’s no way that could cause problems.
That was all grant money used to do that work that was allocated many years ago before the current council… You don’t know what you are talking about… Is this rob arkley or Mike Munson lol?! [edit]
Grant money is tax payers money
It’s probably Michelle Constantine, Rob doesn’t do his own social media.
A sign “slow traffic in right lane” might be considered so speeders can race in the left passing lane. Otherwise the traffic bunches up.
That only applies to freeways. In town, people turn left and right off of all streets. Unfortunately in Eureka, speed limits and traffic laws don’t “apply” to most drivers as most drivers in Eureka have no conscience. They speed, weave in and out of traffic, run stop signs and red lights, and pass in bike lanes to name a few things I observe daily. Add to that the impaired drivers and distracted drivers.
Everyone in Eureka thinks they are the most important person on the road and are hell bent on “getting there first” no matter the trail of destruction they leave behind. This I also observe this daily.
H St. was boxed in afterward, it was nerve-racking, because some drive like it’s the Wild West and they will never change, there’s less way to maneuver away from them.
Any suggestions to work around the speeders would be appreciated.
Here’s an idea..,… start issuing traffic violation fines that hurt. Impound vehicles of repeat offenders, put some fear into receiving a violation.
100% agreed. Unfortunately EPD has made it very clear they don’t have time to patrol. They just got a parking enforcement officer. How come that was a priority. Parked cars are, as a general rule, not endangering anyone. However, almost every moving vehicle in Eureka IS endangering people. Indeed it is a serious priority problem at EPD that has been in place for several decades.
That would at least get a few of the worst offenders.
If you say everyone, you’re included.
Great job Eureka. Those bicycle pedestrian kill zones are a great idea.
I agree, total waste of money on all these so called improvements. Thanks Eureka city council. A bunch of clowns making decisions for us all.
I give it twenty four months before it changes … again.
In clown world, no one can hear you honk. Legal high potency marijuana, reduced lanes of traffic to make “walkable cities” (translates to target rich environments for potential hit-and-runners) and a Lumpenbourgeoisie city administration who only want to signal their virtuous progressive acquiescence to their Sacramento shot-callers.
You want the honk? You can’t handle the honk.
It didn’t cost money, it was a grant that a prior council won many years ago… You are uneducated at the very least….
Original grant was for ‘restructuring’ H and I down by 6th and 7th… to provide ‘walk-able space for businesses’. Had a meeting… meeting was pretty much split opposed and in favor by 1 citizen.
Then… somehow… the City Council pulled a ‘fast one’ on the population.
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That is why I say… vote them out.
Bingo. Traffic engineering is outside of the expertise of ministers, special ed teachers, and art administrators. They do not belong in decision making positions where public works are concerned.
Really you are going to name call after claiming ” it didn’t cost money”. “Uneducated” …and you don’t understand where grant money comes from? Those are tax paying dollars, government does nothing for free.
That’s why the homeless situation hasn’t improved there’s just no money in it
Why does everyone think they know best about traffic control? Like who anointed ya’ll expert status? You don’t know. You don’t. There are people who spend their lives studying traffic and none of them are right here commenting. Obviously. None of you know what really happened or the cause and yall couldn’t have actually believed anyone thought that there’d magically never be any accidents ever again after the change. Are we really this dumb as a society this day?? Maybe not enough people are hit by cars.
The answer is not going on a blog site and name calling and insulting each other. You are right there are people that do traffic studies for a living.
Traffic safety derives from what are called the 3 Es. Engineering, Education, and Enforcement. The first two seem to have been used to a degree, but there is definitely a lack of enforcement.
Maybe the city council should look into grant money for a couple of traffic enforcement positions to curb the excessive amonts of traffic collisions.
Grant money for traffic enforcement is a good suggestion, even if they could afford a couple days per week, that might catch some of the worst speeders.
As long as it didn’t take away from their regular duties.
elections elections elections
Trouble is, it was airheads on the Eureka City Council who decided to play engineer and disregard the information that was provided to them by CalTrans and misuse State grant money for pedestrian improvements in one specific area when they embarked on this boondoggle.
There’s a rew schools around here 30 percent below california average
RIP to the pedestrian and swift recovery to those injured.
They’re not clowns, it’s all going according to plan. Phasing out personal vehicles for the Adgenda 2030. It’s all in the ICLEI guide book for sustainability. Thank Virginia Bass and Mike Wilson (the county’s ICLEI designated chairpersons over the last several years) for helping to weave Adgenda 21/2030 into the county General Plan, since 2007. Look it up and follow the breadcrumbs. Just wait 15-20 years when we won’t have gas powered cars or generators allowed. There will be a lot more bike and bus lanes
That’s very optimistic of you to envision a future with more bike and bus lanes.
That would be a wonderful improvement.
Yeah but apparently people are far too attached to the looming spectre of congestive heart failure to give up driving to work 3miles back and forth every day. Too inconvenient.
Do you think more public transportation is a bad thing?
More buses? More bikes? Fewer cars? Oh, the horror. How will I show my manliness and independence if I can’t drive my blacked-out Dodge Ram 50 miles an hour down a residential street? Our infrastructure is built around private cars at the moment, and there are plenty of reasons that we need them, but I’m sure you probably realize that cars will become an obsolete technology at some point for lots of reasons, spewing emissions into the atmosphere being one of them. I’m sure all the bridle and buggy makers were freaking out about 100 years ago too.
I work right where this accident happened and unfortunately I have to agree the two lanes was the most craziest thing I’ve seen. I’ve been here for less than a year and the intersection of 7th and I had about 10 accidents when it was the 3 lanes…. Imagine how bad this is going to get with two lanes now. Watching this was terrible.
Prayers for all involved today. Also medical personnel was so quick today and on it. Thank goodness for them.
Harris and Henderson are both two lanes and have far more traffic than H and I do. For that matter, most of the 101 has two lanes going each way. I’m a city guy originally and I’m used to navigating lots of roads with four or more lanes on each side, and I don’t think the problem is the number of lanes. The problem is with drivers who treat the roads as a race track and ignore things like stop signs and traffic lights.
I just happened to be going up 7th street when I noticed all the flashing lights in the middle of the street many blocks ahead. God! What a tragic situation!!!
This was the worst accident scene I’ve ever come across, spread over many blocks and numerous cars and people effected. Shattered car parts all over the street.
When asking bystanders what happened?!!!’ I got a couple responses. One, that the person seemed to think was credible, is that 2 cars were racing down I Street. One (the Mercury, I think) ran over a pedestrian (around 8th street), and tried to get away, blew threw the intersection at 7th street….. Apparently a few cars spun out. (Note that the Mercury is facing about 140 degrees from the direction it allegedly came racing from!).
Another story is that the Mercury was racing along, ran over the pedestrian and tried to get away on its own. Whatever is the truth, lots of lives have been affected, especially those close to the deceased.
Damn it! BE RESPONSIBLE, AND NOT A DICK!
Blessings to all affected!!!!
Such a mess!!
so did they catch the ass wipe who killed the pedestrian? I sure hope so. Some may think life is cheap and we don’t need to look out for each other but that is so, so wrong. So sorry for the one who lost their life, tragic.
The traffic was thick on H afterward, I had never seen it like that, boxed in. On I St. there were many flashing lights. I hadn’t known until reading the paper later what had happened. 5 vehicles were involved according to the newspapers.
My office is right down the street and I have seen so many accidents at that intersection. People just don’t pay attention and are driving way too fast. Eureka needs to post unmarked cars along H &I streets to catch speeders. Also designate HNI streets from downtown all the way up to Harris as a safety zone with a maximum speed limit of 25 mph. I’m sure this would not only slow some drivers down, but it would also be a cash cow for the city. it’s a shame that someone lost their life because someone was not paying attention to where they were driving, I pray for the person who died and I hope that the person who was the driver gets the maximum penalty allowed by law
How about “speed tables” those seem to work well at 25 mph if they’re the proper size.
Arroyo, as 4th district supe, can make a motion and get some more kick backs from the vendor who installs them.
Winning 🎯
Really, Kym? You deleted the comment about Arroyo being a GRIFTER?
Wow … guess it’s true.
I’m unsure about your complaint. You are pushing the boundaries by accusing someone of doing something illegal without substantial proof. However, Arroyo is a public figure and I allow more leeway in that case..
But, in any case…..the comment is still here. You actually replied to it. So I fail to understand what your concern is.
It’s ok unless somebody makes a mistake, driving too fast, tailgating, running a light, then the vehicles trying to avoid the accidents need more room to maneuver away from that. I would suggest turnouts, like on the 299. A safety zone area is also a great suggestion, though make all of Eureka a safety zone.
That is heartbreaking. In particular the person that lost their life and the injured person, who was not only injured, but also had a photo of one of the worst moments of their life unnecessarily published. My mom taught me rubber necking to view a wreck is unethical/creepy, actually publishing that injured persons photo is truly disgusting.
Apparently, if it bleeds, it leads.
Toughen up. It’s a good reminder that we’re not immortal. You couldn’t tell who was in the photo; So legal, and a little short of truly disgusting.
If you don’t want to get in footage of a car wreck, do your best to avoid them. Give plenty of space so that someone else’s idiocy doesn’t suck you in.
Public right of way, public domain.
That’s the way it is …
If what was said above is true, the person driving the tan sedan is the culprit of the whole scene – and their pic is posted too, and missing a shoe.
Whole scenario is sad.
I’m not seeing a coroner on scene. The fatality is not official. Things go south so quickly.
I’m sorry for the loss of a loved one dear family and friends.
The coroner left hours ago.
A pedestrian that was almost across the street was hit at an intersection
I live on 9th and I and walk daily and almost get run down daily People speed and don’t slow down when they see a person They are rude and crude and now someone is dead because of it We have asked for a cross walk and just get treated with attitude and nasty from the city when we ask for a crosswalk. I guess this soul would be alive now if people would just slow down a bit. It has slowed down since the bike lanes are in but I guess not today. I don’t think the person even stopped until the accident on 7th. Respect each other and be careful and that includes the city workers who answer the phones
Please make a report on the city website:
https://www.eurekaca.gov/745/Report-a-Concern
The only way the city can track these close calls is if we all report them. Every time.
But they put the curbs in to protect you. Its for your own good. Be safe and confident.
If you get nothing from the city… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_crosswalk
Pony?
I travel on H and I streets many times a day in commercial vehicle. I have noticed speeds are reduced however people are still not making their turns properly. When making a right turn you move across the bike lane where the dashed line is and then make your turn. The green areas are areas where most likely there will be a hazard with a bicycle in the bike lanes. Same at the intersections where the bike riders want to make a left turn. Pay attention and expect someone to do something stupid, then you won’t be surprised when the do.
That green paint is not for autos to be in. Stay out. Green is for planet savers.
Driving on streets without green paint, might be a safer option.
Absolutely. Screw the planet. Who needs it anyway?
People do not know how to use the bike lanes. Have seen numerous people stopping in the traffic lane and then turning right. They do not pull into the bike lane, that’s what the broken green spaces mean, merge into the bike lane and make your right turn. Has been happening on both H and I streets. Have been waiting for something bad to happen….maybe this. How these streets are painted is a real bad idea. Wrongful death suit against City of Eureka.
yep it is very confusing to some. And add moving traffic and a bike rider to see death. But you dont see many bikes on the path. They built it , but nobody came…..
This crash had nothing to do with the bike lane and everything to do with a negligent driver.
I no longer turn right on I due to this issue. I had some almost hit me at Buhne twice since the change.
When a vehicle speeds, misses a light or tailgates, especially in certain areas, the other vehicles need to get away from a potential accident. Adding turnouts like on the 299, making that area or even all of Eureka (except maybe Broadway) a safety zone might be a viable solution.
I had 2 people on bicycles run the red light at Harrison and Myrtle Ave and had balls enough to yell at me. They need to pay attention and understand they don’t own the road. A bicycle against a full size truck. It will be 2 for the truck and 0 for the bicycles. Please people look left, right and left again. That’s the only thing that saved these 2 idiots life today
And today I saw a driver slow down slightly as he made a right turn at the stop sign. Stupidity is universal.
What are those new green stripes on the street? It’s confusing.
That question is on the drivers test. Maybe you should study.
The green designates that bicycles and cars can share a lane and must be careful of each other. I agree that that the bicycle riders seldom full-stop at a stop sign.
No, the green designates that space for bicycles only. No cars, except when turning.
That’s where a vehicle can turn.
I worked for a couple decades in that area and often had to walk between buildings at 7th and K, 7th and I and the courthouse. My life was seriously in jeapordy when I did this, for my job at an agency that is supposed to protect the public. The onus was always on me to wait wait wait for the speeding cars to pass before I ever took a step near the crosswalk because the cars NEVER stopped for pedestrians waiting to cross at crosswalks. Also I’d give it a couple beats AFTER the lights changed green before ever considering crossing at a green light because of the daily red light runners I witnessed. When I mentioned it to the agency, that it was really unsafe to cross streets for the health of the Public in the area and could our agency help initiate some pedestrian safety , all I got were bovine stares.
Look closely at the photos. Notice all the small parts strewn up and down the street. That tells us something about the force of impact, and the innocent car victims in the path of the aggressor vehicle(s).
Waiting…. An arrest maybe?!!
It is amazing that people will troll anything (and/or use it as a political stance) including a news story about a fatal accident. A person died. Most likely he had friends and family who are mourning his unfair and untimely passing. Let’s get into a pissing match over BS though? Sheesh.
RIP, David, I am very sorry this happened to you.