Three Hospitalized After Chain-Reaction Crash

A driver who suddenly stopped when a car pulled out of a driveway in front of him was involved in a chain-reaction crash Thursday on San Marin Drive, Novato police said.

Three people were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries, according to Captain Chris Wikeen of the Novato Fire District.

The driver in the lead vehicle, a truck with a camper shell, was heading eastbound on San Marin Drive near Simmons Lane when another vehicle pulled out of a driveway at 8:44 a.m., Novato police Sgt. Sasha D'Amico said. The driver who braked was then hit from behind, and the second driver was hit by a third driver from behind.

The driver in the middle car, a woman in a minivan, had blood on her face from a laceration, Wikeen said. The other two drivers complained of neck and back pain.

The truck driver had a puppy in the cab, and it was unhurt, Wikeen said. It was an Australian shepherd puppy just three or four months old, he said. Novato Fire personnel put the puppy in the back of the crashed truck as his owner was taken off to the hospital, and police officers kept watch of the puppy until someone from the Marin Humane Society could swing by and take temporary custody of it.

D'Amico said none of the drivers involved in the low-speed crash were under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

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