Teen Struck, Killed In Aftermath of Highway 24 Crash

Updated: 10:15 a.m.

An 18-year-old Brentwood woman was struck by another car and killed after the vehicle she was riding in crashed into another during a chain-reaction accident on Highway 24 at the Lafayette-Walnut Creek border early Friday morning.

A CHP spokesman said Sydney Plummer of Brentwood was riding in a Ford Focus driven by a 26-year-old woman, also from Brentwood, heading east on the highway near the Walnut Creek/I-680 split when it struck a Nissan Sentra which had just crashed and come to rest in the middle of the highway at about 3:15 a.m.

The two women in the Focus joined the driver of the Sentra at the center divide and appeared to be waiting for help, according to the CHP, when the 18-year-old Plummer reportedly walked into the fast lane of Highway 24 -- perhaps to get back to the Focus -- and was struck by a Chevrolet Cavalier driven by a 21-year-old Vallejo resident.

Investigators said preliminary investigation found no evidence that drugs or alcohol played a part. The driver of the Sentra, investigators said, may have fallen asleep before crashing and initiating the multi-car accident.

CHP Officer Peter Van Eckhardt said the fatal chain reaction closed three lanes of Highway 24 until 5:15 a.m. as investigators pieced the accident scene together.