Police located the body of a man believed to have jumped from a moving car on eastbound Highway 24 between the Wilder and Orinda offramps Friday night.
Motorists began calling about a man down on the highway shortly after 11 p.m., initially had difficult located the person in the darkness, and then found him deceased as other motorists called in to say the unidentified man appeared to have jumped from a car.
Several cars pulled over near the scene, possibly after making contact with the body. Police arrived shortly after to seal off the area, shut down the freeway in the eastbound direction and facilitate recovery.
Traffic was allowed through the area on a limited basis and traffic began flowing again at about 12:30 a.m.
On Saturday, the Contra Costa CHP office posted that an Infinity sedan was traveling eastbound on SR-24 when “the right front passenger partially extended himself outside the vehicle. The passenger then fell from the moving vehicle, landing within the traffic lanes where he was struck by a separate passing vehicle.”
Did the driver of the vehicle, from which the decedent exited, happen to pull over and speak with the police, or did they continue on? If the driver continued on without being interviewed by police, do they have a description of the vehicle? The local TV and newspaper outlets are not covering this story at all, even though the Caldecott Tunnel is a major part of the Bay Area’s transportation network, and many persons waited in the tunnel during this unfortunate event.
Thank you, News24, for your ongoing commitment to keep us informed. May the decedent rest in peace, and condolences to his family.
Morning, Henry, and thank YOU for your kind words to us.
As to your questions, many vehicles pulled over after it became apparent that a man was on the freeway and that some vehicles had made contact with him. Police were talking with the drivers though we don’t know if the operator of the car the man jumped/fell from was among them. If we get a pertinent description we’ll certainly provide it.
We’re hoping to learn more about the investigative side to this later today.
I was of the first vehicles behind the initial traffic break and discovery of the departed. There were zero vehicles at the location. At some point the driver of the car the departed jumped from came back to the scene, I heard the driver give a statement to two separate officers. Ultimately the driver said he jumped but there were other things going on, maybe just hanging out of the car for fun and then something went wrong.
RIP
Horrible
Intentionally jumped?
Thank you for the information. We wondered what was happening as we were caught in traffic for several hours.
We were driving that way about 8 PM and saw a black car off the side of the freeway quite a ways off the pavement where it was flat and wondered if there had been an accident, mechanical issue or some thing. Didn’t see anyone as we drive by but it caught my attention enough to say something to the other person in my car.
This is good information the authorities may want to check up on. The incident happened at 11pm if that car was there at 8pm then we may have a suspect or the perp!
That car was there at 7:40 pm. I thought it was a strange place for a car.
This is the second time I know of that someone exited a moving vehicle on the freeway. Last time was maybe 15 years ago.
Terrible.
108RS
It seems someone was arrested per the CHP LOG
Possibly but unknown if related to the initial incident… do you have something solid?
If someone jumped out of a vehicle I’m driving, I certainly wouldn’t keep driving??? Hello? Wth.
Jumped or fell?
Thanks for your news alerts on this
Certainly!
We were caught in traffic like so many others and wondering what was happening when my youngest and brightest said — “check 680/24 news!” He may have gotten your name wrong but he was right again – saw your posts immediately. Going to start listening to that child more.
Please thank your future NASA scientist and let us know if he ever needs a job! We like the smart ones!
RIP to the person that died. I was stuck in that tunnel for at least an hour. I felt so claustrophobic.
We’ll bet… couldn’t have been pleasant. Believe there was a secondary incident in the tunnel or just before it after the fatality occurred…
I’m praying for the family and all his loved ones he has left behind .this is very sad
I’m glad there’s some civility here. I went to another local website that I won’t name and the comments are extremely distasteful and full of speculation with no real facts. Regardless of what happened, someone died, and that’s sad.