Crime & Safety
Driver Was Texting & Had Meth in System During Fatal Cerebral Palsy Van Crash
Jeffrey Richard Rivas, 52, of Woodland, had "lethal levels of methamphetamine in his blood."
The driver who veered into an oncoming lane and earlier this month was texting at the time of the accident, according to California Highway Patrol.
An autopsy also revealed that the driver, Jeffrey Richard Rivas, 52, of Woodland, had "lethal levels of methamphetamine in his blood" while driving on County Road 102 between Woodland and Davis.
Rivas and two passengers of the United Cerebral Palsy van died in the crash.
Find out what's happening in Davisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"This is a devastating reminder of the dangers of driving while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, in addition to distracted driving," said the CHP in a release on Friday. "The California Highway Patrol would like to remind drivers that driving under the influence of any drug that acts on the central nervous system could impair one's motor skills, reaction time, and judgment."
Read the full police report >>
Find out what's happening in Davisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
ORIGINAL STORY: Three people died in a crash north of Davis after a southbound pickup truck drifted into the oncoming lane and collided head-on with a Cerebral Palsy van.
The driver of the pickup truck, Jeffery Richard Rivas, 52, of Woodland, died in the crash, as did van passenger Sara Gray Johnson, 35, of Davis.
Moss was an assistant on the bus and an employee of United Cerebral Palsy. All other passengers on the bus suffered from disabilities, according to the Woodland Daily Democrat.
Several of the other victims from the van, all of whom the Daily Democrat says were all from Woodland, were rushed the hospital, some of them in critical condition. Read their full article to get the details and names of those injured.
Rivas, the driver of the F250, was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. It’s unknown why his vehicle ended up in the oncoming lane. Authorities are still looking into the details, according to this Davis Enterprise article.
The crash happened on County Road 102, near County Road 28H. CHP Officer Bryan Konvalin told the Enterprise that the driver of the United Cerebral Palsy van had “no time to react" to the pickup truck when it swerved into the northbound lane.
Lauren Keene of the Enterprise wrote a nice (but sad) story about Moss, which you can read here.
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