Driver accused of DUI in deadly Fremont crash released, not charged yet
FREMONT (BCN) The Alameda County District Attorney's Office said on Friday that additional investigation and information is needed before it decides whether to file charges against a driver who's been arrested for a collision that killed three people in Fremont on Tuesday night. As a result the driver has been released.
Dang Nguyen Hai Tran, 21, of San Jose, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana and possession of a nightstick or other modified weapon in connection with the five-car collision near the Stevenson Boulevard exit on northbound Interstate Highway 880 at about 9:30
p.m. on Tuesday.
Tran initially had been scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday afternoon and then at 2 p.m. Friday at the East County Justice Center in Dublin, but charges need to be filed beforehand.
Tran was released Friday night and was accompanied by his family. Alameda County jail records indicate that Tran had still been in custody at 3:45 p.m. at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $620,000 bail. The Alameda County district attorney's office is seeking more information from CHP Hayward.
Three Manteca residents were killed in the collision: Noelle Johnson, 39, and sisters Christy Limas, 14, and Brooke Limas, 9.
California Highway Patrol Officer Manuel Leal said Tran reportedly was speeding and driving recklessly in a Toyota Camry when he, for some reason, changed lanes to the left and collided with a 2015 Cadillac Escalade in which Johnson, the Limas sisters and a fourth person were traveling.
Leal said both drivers lost control, with the Toyota Camry veering left and the Cadillac overturning.
Johnson, the Limas sisters and the four person in the Cadillac were all ejected onto the roadway and it appears that they weren't wearing their seatbelts, according to Leal.
The Toyota continued out of control in a southerly direction and collided with a 2005 Honda and the Cadillac continued in a northerly direction and collided with a Toyota Corolla, Leal said.
That collision caused the Corolla to veer right and collide with a 2013 Hyundai, according to Leal.
Four other people, in addition to the Cadillac occupant who survived, were taken to a hospital and one of them was in critical condition, Leal said.
A GoFundMe website for the Limas family had raised $6,235 of its $20,000 goal as of 3:36 p.m. today.
The site says, "The Limas family have always been there to help so many other people in their lives and as friends we want to help and support them through this time of tragedy.
The website is at https://www.gofundme.com/Limasfamily.