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Sacramento man killed in accident

Daily Planet Staff
Thursday May 11, 2000

A passenger riding in the rear seat of a Saturn sedan was killed early Tuesday morning when the car collided with a bread truck at the intersection of University Avenue and Sixth Street. 

The man, identified as 26-year-old Christopher Michael Gum of Sacramento, was pronounced dead on arrival at Alta Bates Medical Center. 

He was sitting in the right rear of the vehicle with another passenger, Jasey Leigh McVicar, 24, of Sacramento. 

McVicar was admitted to Highland Hospital for treatment. The driver of the Saturn, Eric Case Nietzel, 24, of Stockton, was treated for cuts from glass on his face and arms. 

Rodolfo Gonzalez, 30, the driver of the Bread Works Ford Van and a Berkeley resident, did not require hospitalization. 

Capt. Bobby Miller of the Berkeley Police Department said that 5:30 a.m. when the accident occurred, the traffic lights for east-west traffic on University Avenue flash yellow caution, which does not require drivers to stop. 

The lights on Sixth Street at that time flash red caution, requiring drivers to stop and then proceed if it is safe to do so, he said. 

Miller said the Bread Works truck was going west on University Avenue when it collided with the right side passenger door of the Saturn that was going north on Sixth Street. The sedan was pushed into a utility pole. 

Miller would not release any other information about the accident pending investigation by the department’s Traffic Bureau. 

The team of investigators in the bureau will determine the circumstances of the accident such as how fast the cars were traveling, and if one or both of the drivers were at fault.