PIEDMONT — It ought to have been a joyous event, a lovely vacation morning when athletes and sofa potatoes might have gotten collectively for a exercise beneath clear skies earlier than their Thanksgiving meals.
As an alternative, somber faces walked, one after the other, Thursday morning towards the oak tree planted alongside a sidewalk on the midway mark of the annual Piedmont Turkey Trot. As dozens approached and laid flowers on the tree’s base, many walked away with tears of their eyes, holding one another shut for consolation.
Their temper was nonetheless shattered and shocked after a crash Wednesday killed three individuals and critically injured a fourth.
“I can’t remember anything this bad here,” volunteer Race Director Sydney Proctor mentioned simply earlier than addressing the runners and different guests to the occasion. “We’re all doing this with sad hearts.”
The annual Thanksgiving Day 3.1-mile race went on with near 2,500 runners whilst authorities continued to probe what occurred early Wednesday.
The Tesla Cybertruck, carrying 4 individuals, crashed right into a retaining wall close to Hampton Street and King Avenue, then grew to become engulfed in flames. Authorities mentioned they have been alerted to the crash by an automatic message from a telephone.
Three individuals have been killed within the crash; a fourth was pulled from the wreckage by an individual who had left the identical occasion as these within the Cybertruck and was driving behind them when the crash occurred.
“It’s so sad,” Piedmont resident Decide Williams mentioned. “I’ve known them as long as I’ve been here, most of my life. It’s just awful.”
Many have been too overwhelmed with tears to talk. One lady who mentioned she knew the households and volunteered to speak, choked up for a number of seconds, lastly wiped away a tear, walked away and uttered, “I’m sorry. I thought I could.”
The individual hospitalized after being pulled from the car was nonetheless “fighting for his life,” at a hospital Thursday morning, in keeping with Piedmont Mayor Jen Cavenaugh. She mentioned she had been advised that he would want extra surgical procedures.
All 4 individuals within the Cybertruck and the driving force who adopted them and rescued the passenger attended the the identical operate hours earlier, Piedmont Police Chief Jeremy Bowers mentioned.
Fireplace officers haven’t decided how the blaze started.
All of that appeared to be background chatter amid the somber, chilly circumstances Thursday. A whole lot turned out for the run, lots of them sporting the purple colours that signify the highschool. Race officers altered the course to maintain it away from the properties of any of the affected households, and lots of walked the course with their canine.
Practically all mentioned it was unimaginable to go previous the makeshift memorial with out crying.
“I just can’t stop thinking of the families,” Rebecca Port mentioned, shortly after her daughter put down a flower. “We can’t imagine their grief.”
Cavenaugh addressed the group earlier than the the beginning of the race and mentioned town would lean on group to get by means of the tragedy and that can maintain all of the affected households “in their grief and sorrow today and tomorrow and as long as they need us.”
She additionally mentioned “there was no playbook” for find out how to take care of the circumstances which have been despatched upon this in any other case quiet group within the Oakland hills.
“I do know we’ll get through this together in community,” Cavenaugh mentioned. “And I know that when we’re feeling helpless, the one thing we can do is reach out and help others. When we’re feeling sad, the one thing we can do is reach out and connect to a friend, because chances are they’re feeling the same way as you.”
Piedmont Turkey Trot individuals and members of the group pay respects at a makeshift memorial for the three victims who have been killed in a fiery Tesla Cybertruck crash on Hampton Street close to King Avenue in Piedmont, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
Initially Revealed: November 28, 2024 at 1:10 PM PST
