Greg Tassone, Public Information Officer, CHP-Grass Valley Area

CAMPTONVILLE, Calif. May 2, 2018 – At approximately 10:20 AM this (Wednesday) morning, Camptonville resident Zsophia Lighstep, 20, was driving a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder southbound on SR-49, south of Marysville Rd, driving alone. At the same time, a female 17-year old driver from Grass Valley was driving northbound in a 2006 Toyota Scion, transporting two […]

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. December 4, 2017 – On December 2, 2017 at approximately 5:56 pm, 50-year old Newcastle resident Eric Day was traveling westbound on Alta Sierra Drive, east of Francis Drive in a 1992 Geo Metro at an unknown high rate of speed. As Day approached Francis Drive he was unable to negotiate the […]

November 8, 2017 – At approximately 5:10 PM Tuesday evening, commute traffic on southbound Highway 49 was increasing steadily near the end of the Golden Center Freeway, causing traffic slowdowns and backups in the area, especially where the two lanes of the freeway merge into a single traffic lane. 69 year-old Grass Valley resident James […]

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. November 3, 2017 – On November 2, 2017 at approximately 4:19 PM, two vehicles were involved in a road rage incident on westbound SR-20 at Brunswick Road which concluded in both vehicles striking and leaving the roadway. 46-year old Smartsville resident Lawrence Alexander was driving a white Chevrolet pickup westbound on SR-20, […]

September 28, 2017 – The California Highway Patrol is conducting enhanced enforcement operations focused on school bus pedestrian safety in western Nevada County. During the enforcement operations, CHP officers will ride as passengers on school buses and actively watch for motorists who fail to stop for a school bus with its flashing red lights activated […]

NEVADA CITY, Calif. July 28, 2017 – Nevada City resident William Cobb, 38, was driving a 2006 Yamaha Grizzly 660 ATV in an easterly direction near Barn Hollow Road at Cooper Road, in unincorporated Nevada County. Mr. Cobb had a passenger riding directly behind him on the seat. Neither driver or passenger were wearing safety […]

NEVADA CITY, Calif. June 8, 2017 – At approximately 2:15 AM this morning, Gras Valley resident David Strutton, 52, was driving a Ford F-250 pickup truck southbound on Hwy 49, south of Old Downieville Highway (Nevada City area) at an unknown speed.  He was not wearing his seatbelt.  He unsafely turned his vehicle off the […]

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. June 6, 2017 – At approximately 1:28 PM this afternoon, Grass Valley resident Raymond Poquette, 77, was driving a Ford Pace Arrow 34 ft. motorhome, traveling southbound on SR-49, just south of Wellswood Way near the Golden Chain Motel. He was not wearing his seatbelt. Anaheim resident Lawrence Kaye, 64,  was driving […]

May 7, 2017 – At approximately 4:10 PM this afternoon, a 61 year-old male from Eureka was riding a 2005 Honda Shadow motorcycle eastbound on SR-20, west of Wild Turkey Ln. He was wearing safety gear, including an approved motorcycle helmet. Based on a preliminary investigation, he was riding at a high rate of speed, […]

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. April 16, 2017 – At approximately 6:44 PM Saturday evening, 29-year old Grass Valley resident Carlee D’ Arata was driving a 2007 Yamaha Rhino all-terrain vehicle on Old Coach Way near Lower Colfax Rd in the Chicago Park area. She was transporting multiple passengers that had been attending a house party with […]

March 15, 2017 at 6:16 PM –          Earlier today, MacDonald was located in a parking structure near Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. –          He was located by security personnel from the hospital. –          When he was found, he was bleeding from various wounds on his body, most of which were apparent knife wounds that had […]

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. March 1, 2017 – On 03/01/2017 at approximately 11:15 am, 24-year old Ms. Karissa Ladd-Zankich of Grass Valley, as a sole occupant, was driving a 2001 Toyota Tundra westbound on Banner Lava Cap Road at a very high rate of speed. As Ms. Ladd-Zankich approached the intersection in Idaho-Maryland Rd., she lost […]

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. January 30, 2017 – On 1-29-17 at approximately 8:05 pm, 23-year old Grass Valley resident Deno Howard Mann was driving a 2008 Mazda southbound Bennett Road in an unincorporated area of Nevada County. Approximately 1/2 mile north of Brunswick Road, due to his level of intoxication, Mann made an unsafe turning movement […]

January 23, 2017 – On 01/21/2017 at approximately 2:00 AM, 48-year old Auburn resident Lavinia Burge was driving a 2005 Toyota Highlander southbound on Hwy-49, just north of Motherlode Rd., at an unknown speed. For unknown reasons, Burge allowed her vehicle to steer to the right and leave the west road edge of SR-49. Burge’s […]

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. December 2, 2016 – At approximately 2:47 PM today 65-year-old Grass Valley resident Mr. William Balmain was riding a Harley-Davison motorcycle southbound on McCourtney Rd., south of Auburn Rd., heading away from the Nevada County Fairgrounds. He was wearing a helmet. Nevada City resident Mr. Joshua Valle was driving a Ford F-150 […]

DOWNIEVILLE, Calif. October 25, 2016 – At approximately 3 :00 PM today, a plainclothes CHP investigator was in Downieville, CA as part of an ongoing search effort for the subjects of a recent Amber Alert for an abducted child: Henry Massey, a 7-month-old male baby, and his suspected abductor, Hannah Ashley. The CHP officer was […]

September 27, 2016 – At approximately 10:00 AM this morning, a red Toyota Corolla was being driven extremely recklessly on SR-20, approximately 20 miles east of Nevada City. In addition to passing vehicles over double-yellow lines and on the right shoulder, the driver ignored traffic flaggers at a CalTrans project, drove recklessly through the project, […]

NEVADA CITY, Calif. September 10, 2016 –  At approximately 12:33 PM on Friday afternoon, Nevada City resident Gerald M. Bockting, age 85, driving a Ford Explorer was driving eastbound on the Golden Center Freeway, SR-20/49 E/B, east of the overcrossing of Banner Lava Cap Rd.  For an undetermined reason, he caused the Ford to drift […]

Grass Valley, Calif. August 30, 2016 – The Grass Valley office of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) will conduct a sobriety/driver license checkpoint on Saturday September 3, 2016, somewhere within western Nevada County. The funding of this checkpoint is made possible through a grant obtained from the California Office of Traffic Safety and will be […]