A suspected drunk driver has killed a toll collector in a horrific crash on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Daniel Berk, 32, was arrested on suspicion of DUI and vehicular manslaughter in the crash early Saturday on the Oakland side of the California bridge, which killed 46-year-old mother Si Si Han.
A line of vehicles was waiting at the toll booth at around 5.10am when a rented box truck struck the back of the line, causing a chain reaction, police said.
Photos from the scene show the level of devastation in the crash, with a rented truck sheared in half by the toll booth structure.
Daniel Berk, 32, was arrested on suspicion of DUI and vehicular manslaughter in the crash early Saturday in Oakland. Berk and a passenger were ejected from the truck and injured
Toll collector Si Si Han, 46, had just come on duty when she was killed in the crash
The truck’s driver, identified as Berk, and a passenger, were thrown from the vehicle and were both hospitalized, police said.
Han, the Caltrans employee who was killed, moved to the US from Burma 15 years ago when she married her husband, Ryan Saw, ABC7 reported.
She had been working for Caltrans for a decade and was the mother of a 10-year-old daughter, Ashly.
Han was just 10 minutes into her shift when the crash occurred.
‘We loved her here,’ coworker Latasha Luster told the station. ‘She always smiled and always asked about the family. And I asked about her daughter, her husband, her mother. It’s hard right now.’
Accident investigators gather evidence at the Bay Bridge toll plaza after a truck rammed through a toll booth, killing the toll collector inside, before dawn on Saturday
The six toll booths on the right-hand side of the approach to the bridge remaining closed on Saturday as investigators worked the scene.
Berk, who lives in Foster City, works as a theater stage hand in the Bay Area, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The crash snarled traffic on the bridge all day Saturday, with the six toll booths on the right-hand side of the approach to the bridge remaining closed as investigators worked the scene.
By 7pm Saturday, westbound traffic had resumed across the bridge once again.
California Governor Jerry Brown released a statement in response to the crash: ‘Anne and I are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Caltrans Toll Collector Si Si Han, who died today while serving the traveling public. On behalf of all Californians, we extend our condolences to her family, coworkers and friends.’
The top of toll booth 14 is seen sitting in westbound lanes of traffic at the Bay Bridge toll plaza after a truck rammed the booth, killing the toll collector inside