Victims identified in Hwy. 50 fatal crash

By Loretta Kalb and Kim Minugh, Sacramento Bee

Officials released the names Sunday of four people, including two children, who were killed in a two-car collision on Highway 50 just east of Placerville.

The crash happened about 6pm Saturday, when a 2004 Toyota Prius headed west in the Apple Hill area veered across four lanes of traffic and into the path of a minivan.

Three people in the Prius who died at the scene were identified by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office as 38-year-old Sheng Kun Su, who was driving; 39-year-old Shu Zhen Zhao; and 8-year-old Shawn Su, all from Oakland.

The other occupant of that vehicle, identified as 10-year-old Elly Aili Su, was hospitalized with severe injuries, CHP Officer Sean Ricci said.

A 4-year-old Pollock Pines girl riding in the minivan, Nora Elizabeth Temple, was pronounced dead at a hospital, Ricci said.

The collision left two other people – the 35-year-old driver, identified as Danielle Marie Temple; and passenger Will John Temple, 52 – with minor to moderate injuries. Twin 1-year-old boys, John Maxwell Temple and John James Temple, were also in the minivan but were not injured, Ricci said.

The minivan was headed east in the slow lane of Highway 50 when the Prius crossed its path. Ricci said he did not know the speeds of the two vehicles or what caused the Prius in the westbound slow lane of Highway 50 to veer across the fast lanes in each direction and into the minivan’s path.

The crash occurred along a stretch of Highway 50 that does not have a center divider. Ricci said El Dorado County has been erecting road dividers in recent years tied to location and traffic level.