Highway worker killed by suspected drunk driver in Lake Tahoe crash, CHP says

A traffic control worker was struck and killed late Monday by a suspected drunk driver in a construction zone in Carnelian Bay, the California Highway Patrol said Tuesday.

The driver of a black 2021 Subaru Forester entered the construction zone at Highway 28 and Sahara Drive around 10:44 p.m. and “failed to observe a traffic control worker in the roadway, instructing traffic to move from the westbound lane to the eastbound lane,” CHP officials wrote in a news release.

“Due to his level of intoxication, the driver of the black Subaru was unable to slow or avoid the highway worker standing in the roadway,” CHP officials wrote. “The front of the black Subaru collided with the worker propelling the worker in a westerly direction on (State Route) 28.”

The Subaru continued moving before colliding with a dump truck and excavator at the construction site, the CHP said.

The highway worker was pronounced dead at the scene. The worker was not identified.

The driver, who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, was identified by the CHP only as a Tahoma resident but Placer County jail records identified the driver as 36-year-old Andrew Stephen Phillips.

Phillips was booked into Auburn Jail and faces felony charges of vehicular manslaughter and DUI.