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Crime & Safety

Police Name Berkeley Driver Involved with Multiple Wrecks on Solano on Sunday

Police are investigating whether a medical condition may have led to the accidents.

A Berkeley man has been cited and released after his car struck vehicles in two cities on Solano Avenue on Sunday morning, sending at least two people to the hospital for medical care, officials said.

Police identified the man late Sunday as Shahram Farshchi, 56, of Berkeley.

Sgt. K. Smith of the Berkeley Police Department said several witnesses came forward after the accidents to suggest the incidents could have been medically related.

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"We're investigating the possibility that it was a medical event," she said, that led to the collisions. 

The destruction began in Berkeley and moved into Albany as Farshchi, driving a black BMW, struck parked and moving vehicles in both cities, police said.

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Farshchi was traveling west on Solano near Colusa Avenue when he rear-ended a Honda that had stopped to allow another car to back out of a diagonal parking spot, Smith said. A woman and juvenile in the car were wearing seatbelts and did not report injuries.

The BMW pushed the Honda into the intersection, then separated from it and continued west on Solano, said Smith.

She said Farshchi was not going "that fast" when he hit the Honda, but that a witness said the BMW accelerated after the collision in excess of the posted speed limit of 25 mph.

The BMW continued into Albany, hitting several vehicles, including two moving cars, a Toyota and a Honda, near Ordway Street and Peralta Avenue on Solano, officials said.

There was major damage to one vehicle, and at least four others were affected in the crash, said Capt. John Weitzel of the . 

"I've been here 30 years and I cannot believe the car debris on Solano," said Lt. Brad Winding of the Albany Fire Department. "It looked like something you'd see on Interstate 80 or 580."

Weitzel said he was not able to provide information on the conditions of those who were injured. A man and woman, who were in separate cars, were taken by ambulance for medical treatment, he said. 

Officer Steve Foss, of the , said a third person went to the hospital, but did not know if that person sustained injuries.

He said the people who were taken to the hospital were "alert and talking" after the accident.

Foss said the call about the collisions came in at 11:46 a.m. as an injury accident.

Alcohol was not a factor, said Foss, who described the degree of damage to the vehicles as "a rarity."

"I've seen it before, but not often," he said. "And never to this degree on Solano Avenue."

He said the BMW is registered in the city of Berkeley.

Sgt. Smith said Berkeley police initially responded to the area to help with field interviews and traffic control, but ended up taking the Farshchi into custody in connection with the Berkeley accident at Colusa.

He was released after receiving a misdemeanor citation related to the non-injury hit-and-run, she said.

Nick Peterson, of Albany, witnessed the BMW just before the collisions.

The driver was "going west rapidly accelerating while passing cars on the wrong side of the double yellow line.... Moments later there was the sound of multiple collisions. There were no squealing brakes and no skid marks at the scene of the accident," Peterson wrote in a comment on Facebook. 

The driver appeared to be lucid, he added, with a bloody nose, but "offered no explanation as to why he was driving so fast when confronted by myself and other shocked witnesses."

Peterson said the BMW appeared to be driving at least 40 mph near Tulare Avenue, and that he could have been going as fast as 60 mph when he started to hit vehicles near Ventura Avenue in Berkeley.

"Thankfully there were no pedestrians in the crosswalks...or they would be dead," Peterson wrote.

Everybody makes mistakes ... ! If there's something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, give editor Emilie Raguso a call at 510-459-8325 or shoot her an e-mail at emilier@patch.com.

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