Four Injured in Priest Grade Crash

More details on this morning´s accident near Groveland.

Four Mother Lode area residents suffered serious injuries in early morning crash on New Priest Grade.

Tom Wills with the Jamestown California Highway Patrol office says an older-model Ford Explorer was headed down the steep grade just after 6 a.m. Tuesday towing a heavy trailer when the brakes failed. The truck slammed into the embankment about a half-mile from the top of the grade.

Four people were injured in the crash, two seriously. Two air ambulances were called in to transport the badly injured to U.C. Davis Medical Center and Memorial North in Modesto. Two other victims were taken by ambulance to Sonora hospitals.

Wills says the trailer may have been too heavy for the SUV´s towing capacity, causing the brakes to fail.