Two injured in five-car pileup at Tahoe

A five-car pile-up on Highway 28 on the east shore of Lake Tahoe near the Skunk Harbor pullout resulted in injuries to two motorists and the closure of the highway for two hours Saturday.

Nevada Highway Patrol Sgt. John Schilling said a 3-year-old child and his mother were taken by CareFlight to Washoe Medical Center in Reno, but both were stable and had not incurred serious injuries.

The highway was closed after the accident Saturday morning, and traffic headed into Incline Village was rerouted around the lake or to Highway 431 from Reno to Mt. Rose.

According to NHP troopers, the accident occurred when a white Ford Escape was making a left turn from the northbound lane across oncoming traffic into the Chimney Beach parking lot when a black Chevy Suburban, three cars back, hit its brakes and slammed into the Kia minivan directly in front of it. The minivan flipped and hit a Chevy Avalanche directly in its path. The Avalanche rear-ended the Ford Escape at the front of the line.

The Chevy Suburban lost control and careened into the oncoming lane of southbound traffic, hitting a white Ford van. The Suburban continued across the lane ended up in the ditch on the side of the road, officials said.

Motorists on Highway 28 were instructed to turn around while officials cleared the highway.

Lindy Berrett, who was driving the Chevy Avalanche, and her boyfriend, Dave Merryman helped out at the accident scene.

"My boyfriend helped the little boy that was hurt (who was airlifted) the only good thing is we were here to help," Berrett said. "We knew there was serious trouble. We heard someone screaming 'take the babies out.'"