Major Injury Crash On HWY 108, Three Flown From Scene

Major injury crash on HWY 108 East of Kennedy Meadows in eastern Tuolumne County—TCFD photo

Tuolumne County, CA— Three people, including two children, all from Sonora, were seriously injured in a solo vehicle crash on Highway 108 on Thursday (6/26), and one was flown from the scene.

The image box picture shows how the vehicle landed on its wheels, with the front end hanging dangerously over a creek below. All three passengers, including a nine-year-old girl and a boy, sustained major injuries and were flown from the scene. The girl was taken to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, NV, and the boy to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. A 45-year-old woman was flown to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto.

The collision happened around 3:30 p.m., east of Kennedy Meadows Road in the Stanislaus National Forest in Tuolumne County. CHP spokesperson Officer Steve Machado reports that Devon Dotson, 18, was driving a 2002 Chevrolet Venture westbound on the highway when, for unknown reasons, he failed to navigate a curve on the road, causing the van to go down a 70-foot embankment and flip over.

The CHP shut down Highway 108 for more than an hour while fire resources from TCFD, CAL FIRE TCU, Mountain Warfare Fire Department in Pickle Meadows, Bridgeport Fire, and Manteca District Ambulance worked a low-angle rope rescue to get to the victims, according to TCFD.

Machado disclosed, “The driver and the two juvenile passengers were wearing seatbelts, and the adult passenger was not wearing her seatbelt at the time of the crash.”

The crash remains under investigation.