Suicidal Suby driver in Bezerkley
 

[url]http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/18/BAE71080SS.DTL&tsp=1[/url]

(04-18) 08:06 PDT BERKELEY --

A Berkeley man died early today when he crashed his car at high-speed into several parked vehicles in North Berkeley, moments after a homeless man thwarted an apparent suicide attempt by removing a tube that was sticking out of his car, police.

The man, whose name wasn't immediately released, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which happened at Yolo and The Alameda shortly before 2 a.m., said Berkeley police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss.

The incident began at 1:50 a.m. when a homeless man flagged down police Sgt. Patty Delaluna near Bancroft Way and Fulton Street, about a mile away in downtown Berkeley, Kusmiss said.

The homeless man told the sergeant that he saw a silver Subaru parked at the corner with a man sitting inside. There was a tube coming out of the car's exhaust pipe, which the homeless man removed, Kusmiss said.

When Delaluna approached the Subaru, it was "cloudy inside," Kusmiss said. The sergeant tried to talk to the man, but he refused to communicate. Delaluna tried to smash the window to let air inside, but the man took off in his car, Kusmiss said.

Delaluna and Officer Amber Phillips went after the Subaru as it traveled west on Bancroft and then north on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The man drove circuitously, perhaps to elude the officers, and went through stop signs and red lights and drove in the opposite lanes of traffic, Kusmiss said.

The officers stopped following him at 1:55 a.m. out of concern that continuing to do so would prompt him to continue driving unsafely, Kusmiss said. At that point, there had been no police pursuit, just a "slow-speed follow," police said.

The officers last saw the Subaru heading north on Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

At 1:57 a.m., police dispatchers received numerous 911 calls about a crash in North Berkeley. Officers arrived at Yolo and The Alameda - Martin Luther King become The Alameda in North Berkeley - and found a "dramatic collision scene," with the Subaru upside down on the hood of a Ford pickup truck, Kusmiss said.

A preliminary investigation showed that the man had crossed from the northbound lanes into the southbound lanes of The Alameda at speeds of at least 80 mph and hit a parked BMW before plowing into a parked Honda. The Honda was sent spinning into the center yellow line, Kusmiss said.

The Subaru then went airborne for a short time before landing on its roof on top of the pickup truck, Kusmiss said.

"This is one of the most dramatic collisions we've seen in a very long time," Kusmiss said. "We may never know whether this part of the story was an intentional act. But what we do know is that he was driving at a fairly high rate of speed."

damn that's sad

****

wow, always sad to hear when someone is going through something like that

dang....

he should just do something else other than driving like that. he could have kill someone that dont want to die yet. he dont deserve that subaru.

holy ****

damn.
sucks... although, seems a bit selfish...no?

that's hella crazy. sad to hear stuff like that

damn it, why couldnt he at least have used a Prius?

**** man that's so sad.

When I was in Shanghai I met a lot of people who had hell-lish lives but started a new life when they were 40, 50 and now they are happy.

People just don't realize there's always second chances in life no matter how fu.ck.ed you are right now

[QUOTE=VRT Gump;2178188]damn it, why couldnt he at least have used a Prius?[/QUOTE]

Sadly, if he did drive a Prius, some of this may have been avoided. I don't think he would have been able to reach 80+ mph so quickly.

On a side note, that's a pretty cool homeless guy for doing what he did.

this sucks ..... :(

man, if you're gonna off yourself, at least don't endanger others. but i guess if you are going to off yourself you are pretty selfish anyways.

sucks to hear a story like this though... my heart goes out to his family and friends.

Looks like a forester?