Teen killed days after graduation as car plummets 25 feet off SF highway

A 17-year-old boy was killed and three other teenagers were injured after their Chevrolet Camaro crashed into a big rig and flew off an elevated freeway in San Francisco.

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On Saturday at about 1:30 a.m., the driver of the Camaro made an “unsafe turning movement to the right” while driving on eastbound Interstate 80, Mark Andrews, a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol, told SFGATE. The Camaro hit the left corner of a Recology tractor-trailer, Andrews said, and the impact caused both vehicles to hit the yellow sand barrels on the highway near the Seventh Street offramp. 

The Recology truck was able to stop, but the Camaro flew off the metal bridge railing and fell 25 feet down into the San Francisco Police Department impound yard. The Camaro hit several vacant cars in the yard before landing on its roof, Andrews said. 

The driver, an 18-year-old who was able to get himself out of the car, was taken to the hospital for moderate injuries. The front seat passenger, a 17-year-old, also had moderate injuries and was taken to the hospital. 

Crews from the San Francisco Fire Department used the “jaws of life” method to rescue the two passengers in the back, a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old. The 18-year-old had major injuries and was taken to the hospital. The 17-year-old, who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 1:50 a.m., Andrews said. 

The Camaro driver and the truck driver were both “cooperative,” and authorities don’t believe drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash, Andrews said. The freeway was closed for several hours after the crash, according to a CHP post on X, and reopened just before 6 a.m. 

Andrews said the location is a curved section of the roadway but investigators aren’t certain whether speed was a factor in the crash.

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“We do know that they came into contact, causing both of to go into the sand barrels, but we’re not quite sure what led up to it,” Andrews said. “We’re working still trying to determine that.”

The teen who died was a recent graduate of Hillsdale High School in the San Mateo Union High School District, the district confirmed to SFGATE. According to the district’s website, the school’s graduation ceremony was on Thursday, just days before the crash. 

“There are no words that can fully capture the grief and shock of losing a member of our Hillsdale High School family,” the district said in a statement. “Even though the school year has ended, our commitment to our students and families has not. Students may access help with mental health resources by contacting the school.”