08-05-2025
CHP investigating fatal Highway 99 crash near Atwater involving semi-truck
Authorities are investigating after one person was killed and another injured in a crash on a Merced County highway.
Merced area Highway Patrol officers responded to the area of northbound Highway 99 just south of Atwater Boulevard at 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, for a report of a crash involving a UPS semi-truck and a pickup truck with a bed camper. When officers arrived on scene, they located a deceased man lying in the roadway and a woman who was suffering from major injuries.
The CHP said emergency personnel rendered aid to the injured woman who was flown to Memorial Medical Center in Modesto for treatment. She was listed in stable condition.
Authorities said a truck bed camper detached from a 1979 Chevrolet Silverado that was traveling north on Highway 99, driven by a man who the CHP believes to be a 27-year-old from Riverside, and fell into the right lane of the highway. The CHP said it appears the man stopped the vehicle in the right lane, then got out to try and move the camper to the shoulder of the road.
The man and the camper were then struck by a 2023 Kenworth big rig driven by Jessey Nothstein, 38, of Visalia, that was traveling in the right northbound lane at about 55 mph. The CHP said it appears that when Nothstein saw the man and camper in the roadway, he swerved to the left in an attempt to avoid a collision.
The big rig then collided with the Chevrolet, pushing it into the left northbound lane of the highway. The 28-year-old Coarsegold woman was found lying in the number two lane of the highway with major injuries and the CHP said it is unknown where she was located at the time of the crash. Nothstein was transported to Mercy Medical Center in Merced for treatment of moderate injuries.
CHP Officer Eric Zuniga described the crash scene as chaotic and said authorities are continuing to investigate.
Authorities said neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be factor in the crash. Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigating Officer Nicholas Thornton at 209-356-6600.
