Sacto 9-1-1

A 23-year-old Rancho Cordova man apparently drowned while swimming in the American River near Lake Natoma on Saturday evening, officials said.

Christopher Harris went into the water without a life jacket about 5:25 p.m., attempting to swim across an inlet to a Willow Creek recreation area beach, according to a Channel 3 news report. Officials said he got about halfway, when he started having difficulty and went under in 50-degree waters. He did not resurface.

Divers recovered his body about 9:30 p.m.

A 68-year-old man and 14-year-old boy died of blunt-force trauma when a car at the Marysville Raceway Park crashed into the pit area Saturday afternoon.

Yuba County Sheriff-Coroner Steve Durfor released the cause of death following autopsies performed today.

Marcus Johnson, 14, died of multiple blunt force trauma to the head, chest and abdomen, and Dale Wondergem Jr. died of multiple blunt force trauma to the head and chest, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

The two victims struck and killed by a race car at Marysville Speedway on Saturday evening have been identified as Dale Richard Wondergem Jr., 68, of Grass Valley, and Marcus Joseph Johnson, 14, of Santa Rosa. authorities said.

Both were standing near each other in the pit area of the racetrack when a car doing warmup laps careened off the track and hit them about 6 p.m., said Yuba County sheriff's deputies.

The driver of the car, Chase Domonic Johnson, 17, of Penngrove, was not injured. The younger victim was the driver's cousin and not an official member of the pit crew. His admittance to the pit area is being investigated, Yuba County sheriff's officials said.

Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.

QUESTION: What is the status of the October 2012 shooting in Natomas in which a boyfriend shot his girlfriend?
Submitted by: Vickieg5, Antioch

ANSWER: Sacramento Police Department spokeswoman Officer Michele Gigante said the case was presented to the district attorney and the death was determined to be accidental.

Three men were struck and pinned by a van in front of a restaurant on Broadway, Sacramento Police said.

The incident occurred around 1 p.m. in front of a Chinese restaurant at the 1400 block of Broadway. The driver of the vehicle, a female in her early 70s, "mistakenly took the accelerator as a brake" and ran into the three men, according to police spokeswoman Officer Michele Gigante.

The men, in their 50s, were pinned against the wall of the restaurant, before the driver quickly backed up. They were taken to an area hospital with "substantive injuries," Gigante said. There was also structural damage to the restaurant.

Police are not releasing the name of the drive at this time, but Gigante said "alcohol does not appear to be a factor."

Staff and wire reports

WINTERS - Authorities say one person is dead after a small plane lost a wing and crashed just feet from a Northern California freeway.

California Highway Patrol Officer Chris Parker says witnesses told authorities that after the single-engine plane lost the wing, the rest of the plane went into a spiral.

Parker says the plane crashed about 30 feet off the side of Interstate 505, while the wing of the plane landed in the center divider of the freeway.

The pilot - the only person on board - was killed in the crash. The pilot was identified today as Jeffrey Sharman, 68, of Vacaville.
There were no injuries to anyone on the ground.

The crash took place around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday near Winters, a rural community on the Solano County-Yolo County line, about 30 miles west of Sacramento.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the plane was an experimental Avions Fairey Tipsy Nipper T-66.

Staff writer Bill Lindelof contributed to this AP report.

By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com

Six teens were in an SUV at the time the vehicle overturned last night, killing two girls just outside of Auburn, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The girls, ages 13 and 17, died when they were partially ejected from the sport utility vehicle at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The California Highway Patrol does not believe they were wearing seatbelts.

The teens were traveling southbound on Auburn Folsom Road just north of Less Lane when their sport-utility vehicle flipped, said CHP spokesman David Martinez.

A spokeswoman for a popular sushi restaurant closed after a weekend fire says the eatery plans to reopen at its Hazel Avenue location as soon as possible.

An fire early Saturday at Mikuni Sushi in Fair Oaks, where the restaurant chain began, was doused by the building's sprinkler system, but not before causing in excess of $50,000 in damages. The restaurant has been closed since.

"Our intent is to get everybody working as soon as we can," said Jeanne Mabry, a spokeswoman for the restaurant. She said the damage assessment has been slowed by the holidays, but that restaurant could be open in three weeks.

Mabry said the fire department pegged the damage at $50,000, but that the damage figure was likely higher.

By Matt Weiser
mweiser@sacbee.com

An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was killed Friday night in a dramatic vehicle accident that closed Highway 12 in Solano County for most of the evening.

The officer's name has not been released, but he worked in Solano County, said Officer Chris Parker, a CHP spokesman.

The accident occurred at 5:50 p.m. Friday on a notoriously dangerous stretch of Highway 12. An eastbound Toyota pickup truck had entered a turn lane and was making a left turn across the two westbound lanes in order to enter a driveway, just west of Red Top Road.

By Richard Chang and Bill Lindelof

rchang@sacbee.com

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office has identified the pedestrian who was struck and killed by a light-rail train early Friday morning.

Regional Transit officials said a review of video images of a light-rail accident this morning shows that the victim, 65-year-old Veronica Brown of Sacramento, was pushing a man in a wheelchair just before she was struck by the train.

An RT spokeswoman said the 5:30 a.m. collision at 19th and R streets killed the woman pedestrian who was pushing a man in a wheelchair where tracks cross over the sidewalk on the west side of 19th Street. For an unknown reason, the man fell from the wheelchair, clear of the tracks and the oncoming train.

The woman did not avoid the train headed downtown from South Sacramento. She was hit and ended up beneath the light-rail train.

Brown died on the scene, while the man was taken to a hospital. The train was stopped on 19th Street for several hours for an investigation.

A 28-year-old Elk Grove man who was accidentally shot in the face during the slaughter of a pig for a family celebration has died, according to the Sacramento County Coroner's office.

He was identified Koua Vang. Vang had been on life support at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento hospital

The shooting happened at 6:25 a.m. Saturday at Vang's residence in the 8400 block of Kinder Lane, a rural area near Calvine and Grant Line roads, said Christopher Trim, an Elk Grove police spokesman.

A man who told police that he fatally shot his girlfriend this morning after mistaking her for an intruder has been released following interviews with police, but authorities say the investigation is continuing.

The man telephoned authorities about 5:30 a.m. to report that he had accidentally shot his girlfriend, police said. Officers immediately responded to the home on Battlecreek Circle in Natomas where police began an investigation.

The man "called in, saying he had accidentally shot his girlfriend, believing her to be an intruder," said police spokeswoman Officer Michele Gigante. "She was transported to the hospital and has succumbed to her injuries."

By Anne Gonzales
afgonzales@sacbee.com

A 28-year-old Elk Grove man is on life support after being accidentally shot in the face by his brother Saturday while slaughtering a pig for a family celebration, authorities said.

Elk Grove police identified the victim as Koua Vang. He suffered life-threatening injuries and was listed in critical condition at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento hospital Sunday afternoon.

The shooting happened at 6:25 a.m. at Vang's residence, in the 8400 block of Kinder Lane, a rural area near Calvine and Grant Line roads, said Christopher Trim, an Elk Grove Police spokesman.