By Mary Kay Floyd, Courier News Editor
The 18-year old girl from Tracy, Jayda Jenkins, was on her way to Menlo Park when she was suddenly in a collision, plunging into Alameda Creek on January 21st.
A week before the incident, massive storms hit the Bay Area. Safety precautions while driving were supposed to be taken place, especially on Niles-Canyon Road which has many curves and turns. The road is adjacent to Alameda Creek, easy for automobiles to go right into the water.
Jenkin’s silver Honda Accord was pulled out of the rapid waters midweek, with hopes of finding her in the driver’s seat. She was not found in the car, but the seatbelt was ejected. Fremont PD concluded that she had tried to get out of the car but failed to do so, due to the dangerous flow of the creek water.
“We have been on this scene for the past 4 days and were hopeful that today we would find Jayda after we recovered the car,” was posted on Facebook as a statement from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
A little while after the car was pulled out of the creek, another car plunged into the water. The only person in the car was a male driver. When asked what happened, he had said that he fell asleep behind the wheel, and when he felt the side ridges, he lost control and drove off.
Niles-Canyon was closed multiple times in order to process the scene and to find Jenkins. On the 28th of January, around 200 volunteers went out to help. Drones and helicopters were used to give a better view in hopes of finding Jayda. They spent 6 long hours in hopes of finding Jayda, but were unsuccessful. The search for Jayda was suspended around 4:30pm.
