Teen Driver Still 'Critical,' Police Say

The 15-year-old driver of the car that crashed into a tree on Island Drive July 6 remains in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, Sgt. Ron Simmons of the Alameda Police Department's traffic unit said Wednesday.

The five passengers in the car, all teenagers, have been released from the various hospitals where they received treatment, Simmons said. He said two of the passengers were released the day of the accident, one on July, 7, one on July 8 and the last on July 9.

Meanwhile, police have finished the main part of their investigation into the accident, but it could take another month to analyze the results of various tests, Simmons said. A decision on whether to file any criminal charges in connection with the crash won't be made until the analysis is complete, he said.

Simmons said investigators have completed "skid tests" but are still waiting for the driver's blood test results.

The APD used search warrants to obtain the vehicle's air bag control module and powertrain control module, Simmons said. Investigators have extracted information from those modules — which function a bit like the "black box" in an aircraft cockpit — but are still analyzing that data, he said.

The accident took place about 1:30 a.m. on July 6 in the 800 block of Island Drive, opposite the Chuck Corica Golf Complex.

The driver was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland after the crash. The five passengers (four girls, one boy, all age 15 except for one 13-year-old sibling) sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to Highland, Kaiser Oakland and Eden Medical Center.

All six teens are Alameda residents, police have confirmed.

The teens had taken a parent's vehicle without permission, police said after the collision.