SUV Careens Into 5 Vehicles at City Yard

Update 3:00 p.m. Tuesday

A northbound SUV driver took the North Main Street offramp at about 70 mph early Tuesday morning and didn't make the curve.

"It catapulted — it's a tight curve," said Heather Ballenger, director of public services for the city of Walnut Creek. "She didn't make the curve at all. It launched over the on-ramp, over the fence, hitting the back bed of the truck."

The SUV, coming off across Lawrence Way and through a chain-link fence into the city of Walnut Creek's corporation yard, where it struck five private vehicles owned by city workers. The airborne SUV struck the pickup truck, which was pushed into a chain reaction collision that damaged four other vehicles parked there, Ballenger said.

Somehow, no injuries were reported for the driver and anyone in the lot in the 6:45 a.m. Tuesday accident, said Officer Tom Maguire of the California Highway Patrol.

The driver, 18-year-old Jennifer Amaya of San Jose, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after officers discovered evidence of drug use in her SUV, Maguire said.

The city workers had just started shifts at 6:30 a.m. "Thank God nobody was standing right there or just getting out of their cars," said Ballenger.

Of the damaged vehicles, Ballenger said, "Some might be totaled. Other ones just need body work."