Three-car crash closes Highway 12

On Tuesday morning just before 6 a.m., a Toyota sedan, traveling south on Hwy. 12 between Arnold Drive and Madrone Road, pulled out to pass a garbage truck but hit head on a Honda Civic traveling north. The impact spun the Toyota into the path of the truck it had just passed. The driver, Allen Gates, 63, of Santa Rosa, was sent to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with serious injuries. The driver of the garbage truck, Juan Garcia, 46, of Santa Rosa, was uninjured. The driver of the Honda, 58-year-old Alfredo Alcaraz of Glen Ellen, was pronounced dead at the scene. The accident closed Hwy. 12 until 9:45 a.m.