Exclusive: Man who hit, killed CalTrans worker drove on shoulder before crash

A man who is suspected of killing a CalTrans worker in a hit-and-run along Interstate 80 on Friday was making unsafe passing moves when the crash happened, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Solano NewsNet was the first to report the crash that happened near the Cherry Glen Road off-ramp late Friday morning.

A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said Taje Jakkar Holliman, 31, was attempting to pass vehicles on the right-hand side of the freeway, driving on the shoulder in an unsafe manner and at a high rate of speed, when he allegedly struck and killed 51-year-old CalTrans landscaper Quanda McGadney of American Canyon.

McGadney died at the scene from traumatic injuries sustained in the crash. Holliman was arrested in front of a business in Fairfield.

The California Highway Patrol said Holliman faces vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run charges. The agency is still investigating the matter and asks anyone with information to contact them at 707-917-4491.

McGadney was the first CalTrans worker to die in the line of duty in six years, and the 190th worker killed since the agency was formed as a subset of the California Department of Public Works in 1921 (then, CalTrans was known as the Department of Highways).

Late Friday evening, Governor Gavin Newsom expressed condolences to McGadney’s family and ordered flags at the Capitol to be flown at half-staff.