Girl killed while trying to get ‘distraught’ friend off freeway

A 12-year-old girl died Wednesday night after being struck by a vehicle on the Capital City Freeway, with a California Highway Patrol spokesman saying the child was trying to stop a teen who had run away from a nearby children’s receiving home and onto the highway.

The incident in Arden Arcade began when a “very distraught” teenager left the children’s receiving home at Watt Avenue and Auburn Boulevard, then proceeded by foot onto the nearby freeway,

CHP North Sacramento Officer Greg Zumstein said.

A second girl, a friend of the first who also lives at the receiving home, then followed her into eastbound traffic near Watt Avenue in an apparent effort to get her out of harm’s way, Zumstein said.

This second girl was then hit by a vehicle traveling in the fast lane of the eastbound Capital City Freeway around 9:50 p.m. and pronounced dead at the scene by fire personnel, Zumstein said. The other girl was not struck or injured.

Zumstein said Thursday morning that both girls were teens. A news release by the CHP early clarified that the girl who was killed was 12 years old and that the girl she was chasing after was 16. The younger girl was struck by a 2009 Lexus driven by a Sacramento woman.

The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with authorities, according to Zumstein, who said there was “no reason to suspect DUI.”

Following the pedestrian collision, there were about eight to 10 people gathered near the center divider, according to the CHP incident log, which reported that these people were possibly from “rec home, poss staff and other kids.” The incident log then indicated at 10:15 p.m. that authorities requested an ambulance to the scene “for 1 kid (from) rec home for 5150,” an involuntary psychiatric hold.

The Sacramento Children’s Receiving Home is directly adjacent to the eastbound ramp onto the Capital City Freeway.

“The entire Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento community is devastated by the tragic death on I80 last night of a youth placed in our temporary shelter care facility,” Sacramento Children’s Receiving Home CEO David Ballard told The Sacramento Bee in an email.