Residents of Piedmont struggle with three deaths

Piedmont Mayor Jen Cavanaugh hugged residents during the city’s annual Thanksgiving Turkey Trot as the small community struggled to come to terms with the devastating crash that killed three young residents early Wednesday morning.

“I’d rather be here with my community,” Cavanaugh said Thursday shortly after leading the crowd in a moment of silence before the nearly two-mile race.

Her comments came a day after three Piedmont residents were killed and another injured in a violent crash involving a Tesla Cybertruck. Police officials said they are investigating the cause of the crash, but that speed may have been a contributing factor.

A motorist driving behind the Cybertruck helped pull out the fourth passenger, who was hospitalized with serious injuries, officials said. When police arrived, the Cybertruck was engulfed in flames twice the height of the vehicle.

None of the four young people in the Cybertruck have been identified, but they were all 2023 Piedmont High School graduates and sophomores, according to ABC-7. Three died on the spot.

On Thursday, the mood at the Turkey Trot was most gloomy. The race route was changed because the original route passed one of the victims’ homes, said Chris Smith, a member of Turkey Trot’s board of directors.

Wednesday “was a very difficult day for this community,” Smith said, adding that people donated 1,500 flowers to the memorial located at the crash site near Hampton Road and King Avenue.

Skyler Liu, 25, said the crash was “very tragic” and personal — her parents knew the parents of the young people who were killed.

Liu, who was visiting her parents from Portland, ran the race Thursday and had to jog past the memorial.

“More people are out today than usual,” she said.

After the race, a man stood in front of the memorial, a charred tree covered in flowers, with his eyes closed. He paused for several minutes before placing his hand on the tree and then left. He refused to speak to a reporter.

Near the finish of the race, Sophie Reynolds, 26, said the crash has affected all the residents of the small town.

“Our community is so small that everybody knows everybody. It affects everybody,” Reynolds said of the East Bay town of only about 10,000 residents.

Chad Baldwin, a Piedmont resident, waited near the finish line to watch his 15-year-old son finish the race. Baldwin, 51, said his 18-year-old son, who slept in during the race, knew the people who were killed. Baldwin said he and his wife sat their children down and talked to them about safe driving.

“It’s easy to think things like this don’t happen here,” Baldwin said. “It’s unthinkable. It’s hard to fathom.”

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