By Michael McGough
The Sacramento Bee
GALT, Calif. — Coroner’s officials have identified the man killed in a Sunday morning crash on Highway 99 that also seriously injured two Galt police officers.
The deceased victim was 25-year-old Manjot Singh Thind of Manteca, according to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.
The Galt Police Department said in a Monday afternoon Facebook post that the officers — identified as Harminder Grewal and Kapri Herrera — remain hospitalized in intensive care.
“Doctors and hospital staff have worked tirelessly to stabilize Officer Herrera and Officer Grewal,” the department said. “As of this morning, Officer Herrera remains in ICU and is listed in critical, but stable condition. Officer Grewal remains in critical condition in the ICU.
“Once again, on behalf of the Grewal and Herrera families and the Galt Police Department, we’d like to thank everyone for the prayers, positive thoughts, and support you’ve shown us.”
Thind and the two officers were involved in a head-on collision around 4:30 a.m. Sunday near Dillard Road.
The California Highway Patrol in a news release said a Dodge Ram pickup truck heading southbound on Highway 99 hit the center median, broke through a barrier and veered into northbound traffic, where it struck a Galt Police Department patrol vehicle occupied by Grewal and Herrera.
The police vehicle was traveling about 70 mph, and the Dodge was driving at an unknown speed. The CHP said it is unknown whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.
Thind, the pickup driver, was pronounced dead at the scene by fire personnel. Two passengers in the Dodge, both 26-year-old men, were hospitalized with injuries described by the CHP as moderate.
Grewal and Herrera, who were headed to the Caldor Fire as part of the state’s mutual aid emergency program, had to be extricated from the patrol vehicle.
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