Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Petaluma Woman Dies in Crash on 101

Husband, who was behind the wheel, is in critical condition after Sunday night wreck south of Redwood Landfill.

The passenger killed in a Highway 101 crash Sunday night north of Novato was identified as Jomar Katherine Lococo, a 63-year-old Petaluma resident, the Marin County Sheriff's Department said Monday morning.

Lococo was pronounced dead at the scene on 101 between Gnoss Field and the Redwood Landfill, the sheriff’s department release said. The California Highway Patrol identified the driver as Lococo’s husband, Randall Fowler, 63, of Petaluma. He was in critical condition and sent by helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, a CHP source said Sunday night.

Fowler suffered a broken jaw, lacerations to his face and dislodged teeth in the crash, which was first reported at 6:15 p.m., the CHP said.

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Battalion Chief Gerald McCarthy was the first emergency responder to the site, which he said was even with the northern tip of the Gnoss Field runways. He said four or five witnesses had pulled over and were standing near the car, which was wrapped around the power pole about six feet below the level of the highway.

According to the CHP, Fowler was driving his 2011 Mercedes Benz C300 northbound on 101 at about 60 mph when it veered off the road and hit a berm, collided with a power pole and came to rest in a ditch.

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McCarthy said he felt Fowler’s pulse and heard him breathing but could not get to Lococo. The roof of the car had been smashed down even with the level of the top of the doors, he said. McCarthy added that it appeared the roof of the car and the passenger side had absorbed the major impacts.

According to Kathy Lococo, Jomar's sister-in-law, the car swerved to avoid a truck that had entered their lane.

"He was just trying to counter act it and lost control," Kathy Lococo said Monday. She said Jomar and her husband had just attended a large family function in San Francisco and were returning home to Petaluma.

"She was so happy and had a big smile on her face," she said. "Maybe when all of your ducks are in a row, that's the best time to go. Jomar probably didn't even know what happened."

According to the CHP website, the crash was first reported at 6:16 p.m. and a SIG alert was issued at 6:55 p.m. because of blocked lanes on 101. A rescue helicopter landed in the area at about that time and prompted the closure of all 101 lanes for 20 minutes, the CHP said.

By 7:41 p.m., CHP officers had stopped northbound 101 traffic at the Rowland Boulevard exit in central Novato to conduct their investigation. Drivers in the area were urged to use alternate routes. Eventually the left lane was reopened, then all lanes were reopened at about 10 p.m.

Karina Ioffee contributed reporting.


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