Lyft Driver, Passenger Injured In Highway 12 Hit-And-Run: CHP

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Two people were injured in a hit-and-run crash late Thursday on state Highway 12, the California Highway Patrol said.

The CHP asked for the public's help in locating the driver who rear-ended a Lyft driver in the crash reported shortly before 10:45 p.m. on westbound SR-12, just east of Irwin Lane.

Officers determined the Lyft driver, a 43-year-old El Verano man, was driving a 2021 Toyota Prius westbound on SR-12 at approximately 50 mph when a gray Acura sedan traveling in the same direction approached the Prius at a high rate of speed and crashed into the back of the Prius, CHP Officer Marcus Hawkins said.

"The Acura sustained major front-end damage and the Prius sustained major rear-end damage," Hawkins said. "The rear of the Prius was crushed all the way to the rear tires."

The Acura driver immediately left the scene of the crash and traveled south on Llano Road, Hawkins said.

The Lyft driver was taken by ambulance to Kaiser-Santa Rosa for treatment of minor injuries.

His passenger, a 30-year-old Sebastopol woman, was taken by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.

"A search of the area by multiple officers and agencies was unsuccessful in locating the suspect vehicle," Hawkins said.

The suspect vehicle was described as a gray four-door Acura sedan; car parts at the scene led CHP to believe it was possibly a gray 2009-2010 Acura TSX.

CHP asked anyone with information about the crash to call Officer Smith at the Santa Rosa Area CHP Office at 707-588-1400.