— "The craziness was kind of the car going over us and underneath us," said Heather Hunt, who witnessed a deadly crash on Quail Lakes Drive Friday.
Hunt and her friend Diane Iserloth were stopped at the light at the intersection of Quail Lakes Drive and March lane when a major crash happened, bringing a high-speed CHP chase to an end.
The pair hesitated before moving forward in their Honda sedan as they were deciding whether or not to get food at the nearby Jack-in-the-Box.
That's when they say a Chevrolet Silverado truck suddenly ran the red light in front of them.
"All of a sudden, not two seconds later, you see this truck come flying by — hit the car that was right beside us, smacked right into it and kept going and then smacked right into another car and kept going," Hunt said.
Both Hunt and her friend said several law enforcement vehicles were right behind the pickup, in hot pursuit going at high speeds.
"At least 90 something he was going really fast," Iserloth said, referring to the driver who was being chased by California Highway Patrol. "Even after hitting the first car, even the one right next to us and hitting that car he was still going."
The CHP says the pursuit began around 3 a.m. as a speeding violation on Northbound I-5 just south of March Lane.
In all, three other cars were involved in the ending crash. One, the driver of a Chrysler Sebring, died of their injuries. Two other drivers suffered minor and major injuries.
But the chase isn't the only surprising part of the story. As it turns out, the truck that CHP was chasing - was stolen a short time before the pursuit began.
The 17-year-old driver, who CHP said is from Oakland, is believed to have stolen the truck, according to police.
Based on the intensity of the final collision, some at the scene questioned whether the pursuit of the driver should have ended sooner.
What is CHP's pursuit policy?
ABC10 spoke with CHP about the policy surrounding a chase. CHP Officer James Smith said, "Ultimately it's in accordance with having both the officers, violators and bystanders safeties in mind."
So-called "un-involved third party" fatalities like the one on Friday are extremely rare in California. In 2017, the latest CHP statistics show only one.
Hunt and her friend told ABC10 there felt lucky to have survived what happened while they were on the road, so close to a major collision.
They said there weren't many cars on the road, and wonder if the outcome would have been different if CHP had backed off of the driver.
"I don't know what the circumstances were leading up to the chase," Hunt said. "So that's all one their own discretion."