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FREMONT — A 21-year-old man arrested after a five-vehicle freeway crash that killed three people, including two children believed to be sisters, is suspected of causing the crash by driving under the influence of marijuana, the California Highway Patrol said Wednesday morning.
The Alameda County Coroner’s Office identified two of the victims as 9-year-old Brooke Limas and 14-year-old Christy Limas but did not have a place of residence for them. Officials said they are believed to be sisters.
They were in a Cadillac Escalade.
An adult woman who was also in the Escalade also died in the crash. She has not been identified.
Dang Nguyen Hai Tran, 21, of San Jose was driving a Toyota Camry involved in the crash and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana, the CHP said. The CHP identified him Wednesday morning.
The crash happened around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday on northbound I-880 near the Auto Mall Parkway near Stevenson Boulevard. All three of the people who died were ejected from an Escalade, the CHP said.
Five other people, four of them under 18 years old, were injured, the CHP said. The CHP did not have an update on their conditions Wednesday morning. Among the injured was an infant who was in critical condition.
The crash shut down I-880 overnight and into the morning commute. The California Highway Patrol issued a Sig Alert for severe traffic at 9:49 p.m. Tuesday after shutting down all four lanes of northbound I-880 from Auto Mall Parkway to Stevenson Boulevard.
The alert stayed in place until around 6:20 a.m. Wednesday.
Calls about a reckless, speeding driver preceded the crash, CHP Officer Manuel Leal said. That same person is suspected of causing the crash, he said.
“Marijuana is a drug, it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle while having marijuana in your system,” Leal said. “Driving under the influence, whether it’s alcohol or drugs, the outcome is the same. It’s dangerous, it kills people.”
Check back for updates.