CHP Updates Last Weekend’s Rawhide Meats Store Crash

Truck plows through Rawhide Meats Store in Jamestown—CHP photo

Jamestown, CA – The CHP is releasing new details about a utility truck driven by a Sonora man that crashed into the Rawhide Meats Store off Highway 49/108 in Jamestown this weekend, keeping it closed.

As we reported here, on Saturday (8/9), the truck crashed into the store just before 8 a.m., stopping only once it was completely inside. The CHP has identified the driver as 37-year-old Brandon Betts. Spokesperson Officer Joshua McKernan reports that Betts was northbound in a 2017 Ford F350 truck on the highway, north of Main Street, when he “made an unsafe turn.” He added that the truck went off the road onto the west shoulder, down an embankment, through a field and gate, and then into the back of the Rawhide Meats building.

Fortunately, the store doesn’t open until 10 a.m., so there were no customers inside. However, McKernan noted that staff were present, but none were injured. Betts also did not suffer any injuries. McKernan stated, “He [Betts] was found not to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of this crash.”

The Rawhide Meats Facebook page says the store is temporarily closed due to the accident. The post explains, “At first, we thought there was little damage. It seems we were wrong, and it looks like repairs will take much longer than we had hoped.” They also asked customers not to go to the Rawhide processing plant off Rawhide Road to pick up meat, stating, “Our butchers have enough to keep them busy. Plus, meats were boxed and stacked at random into our big freezers that morning, so it is going to take time to organize. Hopefully, we will have a solution to our problem in a week—or maybe two.”