Holiday an occasion to share grief, community after East Bay tragedy

PIEDMONT — It should have been a joyous occasion, a beautiful holiday morning when athletes and couch potatoes could have gotten together for a workout under clear skies before their Thanksgiving meals.

Instead, somber faces walked, one by one, Thursday morning toward the oak tree planted along a sidewalk at the halfway mark of the annual Piedmont Turkey Trot. As dozens approached and laid flowers at the tree’s base, many walked away with tears in their eyes, holding each other close for comfort.

Their mood was still shattered and shocked after a crash Wednesday killed three people and critically injured a fourth.

“I can’t remember anything this bad here,” volunteer Race Director Sydney Proctor said just before addressing the runners and other visitors to the event. “We’re all doing this with sad hearts.”

The annual Thanksgiving Day 3.1-mile race went on with close to 2,500 runners even as authorities continued to probe what happened early Wednesday.

The Tesla Cybertruck, carrying four people, crashed into a retaining wall near Hampton Road and King Avenue, then became engulfed in flames. Authorities said they were alerted to the crash by an automated message from a phone.

Three people were killed in the crash; a fourth was pulled from the wreckage by a person who had left the same event as those in the Cybertruck and was driving behind them when the crash occurred.

Authorities have not publicly identified any of the three people who died. More than a half-dozen people told the Bay Area News Group at the event Thursday that the dead all were former Piedmont High School students who were home on holiday breaks.

“It’s so sad,” Piedmont resident Judge Williams said. “I’ve known them as long as I’ve been here, most of my life. It’s just awful.”

Many were too overwhelmed with tears to speak. One woman who said she knew the families and volunteered to talk, choked up for several seconds, finally wiped away a tear, walked away and uttered, “I’m sorry. I thought I could.”

The person hospitalized after being pulled from the vehicle was still “fighting for his life,” at a hospital Thursday morning, according to Piedmont Mayor Jen Cavenaugh. She said she had been told that he would need additional surgeries.

All four people in the Cybertruck and the driver who followed them and rescued the passenger attended the the same function hours earlier, Piedmont Police Chief Jeremy Bowers said.

Fire officials have not determined how the blaze began.

All of that seemed to be background chatter amid the somber, cold conditions Thursday. Hundreds turned out for the run, many of them wearing the purple colors that represent the high school. Race officials altered the course to keep it away from the homes of any of the affected families, and many walked the course with their dogs.

Nearly all said it was impossible to go past the makeshift memorial without crying.

“I just can’t stop thinking of the families,” Rebecca Port said, shortly after her daughter put down a flower. “We can’t imagine their grief.”

Cavenaugh addressed the crowd before the the start of the race and said the city would lean on community to get through the tragedy and that will hold all the affected families “in their grief and sorrow today and tomorrow and as long as they need us.”

She also said “there was no playbook” for how to deal with the circumstances that have been sent upon this otherwise quiet community in the Oakland hills.

“I do know we’ll get through this together in community,” Cavenaugh said. “And I know that when we’re feeling helpless, the one thing we can do is reach out and help others. When we’re feeling sad, the one thing we can do is reach out and connect to a friend, because chances are they’re feeling the same way as you.”