Valley Springs three-car Pile-up Kills One -- Nov 28, 2017

A 65-year-old woman from Valley Springs died Monday night from injuries suffered in a three-car pile-up on Highway 26 west of Calaveras County. Brenda McCann was a passenger in the 1998 Jeep that was rear-ended just before 6:30 p.m. when it stopped and attempted to make a left turn off of the westbound highway onto a frontage road running parallel to 26 west of Vista Del Lago Drive between Valley Springs and Rancho Calaveras. The force of the impact pushed the Jeep into oncoming eastbound traffic. It rolled directly into the path of a 2014 Ford F150 pickup truck which struck the Jeep’s passenger door exactly where McCann was sitting. The crash closed the highway for 80 minutes, afterward McCann was transported to a hospital in San Andreas. It was there where she was pronounced dead.  The Jeep that McCann was riding in was driven by 19-year-old Valley Springs resident Wade McCann. His relationship to Brenda McCann was unknown. The vehicle that rear-ended the Jeep was identified as a 2005 Ford F150 pick-up. The California Highway Patrol reported its driver, Mark Linneman, 29, of Modesto had failed to notice McCann’s Jeep had stopped in front of him and allowed his vehicle to hit the rear of McCann’s Jeep. The Ford pickup was travelling east when it broadsided the Jeep after it was pushed into the eastbound. It was driven by 44-year-old Rudi Leon, of Valley Springs. Leon restrained a minor, unspecified injury and was taken to a local medical center for treatment. Linneman also suffered a slight injury but refused treatment. Wade McCann was not reported as injured. The CHP is continuing its investigation into this fatal collision. The CHP report stated neither alcohol nor drugs appear to have been a contributing influence.