A 66-year-old Vacaville woman died early Sunday morning after a wrong-way driver slammed head-on into her car on southbound Interstate 505 near Putah Creek Road, just south of Winters. The woman, the sole occupant of a 2026 Nissan Kicks, was pronounced dead at the scene. The wrong-way driver, traveling north in the southbound lanes after apparently missing an exit and making a U-turn onto the freeway, suffered only minor injuries. Three other vehicles sustained damage from debris in the crash, which shut down the freeway for hours overnight.
According to the California Highway Patrol, cited by CBS News Sacramento and the Daily Republic, the driver of a Chevrolet Tahoe believed he was on a two-way county road rather than a divided freeway when he turned around and drove into oncoming traffic. The Daily Republic identified the driver as 45-year-old Angel Berrera Zapata of Vallejo, who was arrested on suspicion of felony DUI and booked into Solano County Jail after being medically cleared. CHP said Zapata showed a high level of suspected intoxication at the scene. Southbound I-505 was closed at Putah Creek Road for nearly four hours before fully reopening around 4:20 a.m., and the case has been forwarded for prosecution.
