1 person killed, man arrested after multi-car pileup on Highway 101 in SLO County
One person died and two others were injured in an early morning multi-car pileup in Nipomo on Sunday.
At around 2 a.m., the California Highway Patrol received a call of a vehicle rollover on Highway 101 near the southbound Highway 166 off-ramp.
According to a news release, the car was blocking the southbound lanes of the highway.
Ten minutes later, a car driven by Dylan Lossing, 20, of Orcutt, approached the rear of a 2012 Nissan Altima driven by an unidentified 30-year-old Santa Maria man, according to the release. Lossing was driving his car at a “high rate of speed” before the crash, the release said.
The Nissan was stopped behind another driver, Leticia Fernandez, 53, of Bakersfield, who was also stopped in her black GMC Sierra, the release said.
Because he was traveling at an “unsafe speed,” Lossing was unable to slow down or avoid the stopped traffic from the initial car rollover, the release said. The front of his car collided into the Nissan which pushed the car forward into Fernandez’s vehicle.
Lossing’s car then continued to moving on to the dirt median, colliding with a Chrysler Pacifica driven by Trisha Norris, 61, of Santa Maria.
The unidentified Santa Maria man was transported by ambulance to Marian Regional Medical Center where he died from his injuries Sunday morning, according to the release. His name was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Cal Fire deputy chief Josh Taylor said fog was one factor to blame for the multi-car pileup.
According to Taylor, an ambulance responded to the scene, along with one battalion chief and three fire engines.
Taylor said two other people, Lossing and Fernandez, were also treated for injuries at the scene.
Lossing was placed under arrest following the crash.
“It is believed alcohol played a part in this collision,” the release said.
As of Sunday evening, Lossing was still in custody at the San Luis Obispo County Jail, with bail set at $100,000, according to the Sheriff’s Office Who’s in Custody website.
He was being held on suspicion of charges of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury or felony, a DUI of .08 or above with injury, as well as manslaughter and gross negligence.
