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The California Highway Patrol continues to investigate the afternoon commute crash on Interstate 580 last week that killed a Pleasanton native and emergency room technician who had his eyes set on engagement and nursing school.
Amador Valley High School alumnus Scott Renton, who celebrated his 25th birthday less than a month ago, was devoted to his burgeoning medical career and loved leaving a positive imprint on everybody he met, his mother told the Pleasanton Weekly.
“He had just finished nursing applications last week,” Jamie Renton said Saturday. “Caitlyn is in a physician’s assistant school, and they had a very bright future together. They wanted lots of kids. He loved helping babies the most. He had the best smile and told us he loved us all the time.”
“He loved helping other people,” she added. “And that’s the hard part; in the end, we couldn’t help him. Just devastating.”
As they grieve, questions remain for the family about what happened that afternoon on the freeway before Scott Renton, an experienced motorcyclist, was knocked to the ground coming back toward the Tri-Valley east of Eden Canyon Road. CHP-Dublin put out a call on Friday asking more witnesses to come forward to aid officers’ ongoing investigation.
Preliminary findings indicate that Renton’s Yamaha RZFR6 was involved in an initial crash with a gray Toyota Sienna on eastbound I-580 just after 4:20 p.m. Thursday (Dec. 4) west of Pleasanton, according to the CHP. He was thrown off his motorcycle and landed in the left lane of the freeway, where he was struck by a black Toyota Tundra traveling in that lane. He died at the scene.
Jamie Renton recalled for the Weekly the worst phone call a mother could ever receive – but in hindsight she was grateful how it happened. A bystander found Scott Renton’s phone at the scene and acted on instinct, “Siri, call mom.”
Thinking it was her son on the other line, she was confused to hear a lot of noise and an unfamiliar voice. The man was finally able to convey, “There’s been a really bad motorcycle accident, and I don’t think he’s going to make it … I’m so sorry, I thought you’d want to know.”
Jamie Renton, who works for Castro Valley Unified School District, tried to drive to the scene with a colleague but the traffic backup was too overwhelming. The bystander called back.
“They just stopped working on him,” she recalled the man saying. “If he hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known until later that night. So I was so thankful.”
In addition to his mother and his girlfriend, Scott Renton is survived by dad Brad, brother Kyle, sister Kelly and half-sister Robbie.
Renton had his heart set on the medical field from an early age, his mother recalled.
“Scott has been helping people since he was 16 – the soonest he could start working as a lifeguard,” Jamie Renton said. “It wasn’t just a cool job for him. He took it very seriously, literally as a ‘life’ guard. He always ran to a medical scene and was always the first one there.”
“He got his EMT certification before his diploma,” she added.
After graduating from Amador in 2019, Renton earned an associate degree from Las Positas College in Livermore on a nursing pre-track. He worked for Royal Ambulance for three years and then got an EMT tech job at Washington Hospital in Fremont in August 2024, a job he loved with a group of colleagues he loved – including his future girlfriend, whom he met on his first day.
Renton had his sights set on nursing school, and had just finished applying for programs with deadlines the Monday before he died. He had also recently given his girlfriend a promise ring, hoping the two would get formally engaged after her schooling wrapped, according to his mom.
“He had his girl … it’s just crazy,” she said.
A rider since he was 18, Renton “loved motorcycles, he loved snowboarding, he loved mountain biking … anything outside, he loved”, his mother added.
One tough unanswered question for the family is why Renton was riding on I-580 that afternoon.
He had the day off and he was recovering from the flu – not that I-580 would even be on his typical route from the hospital in Fremont. He sent a text to his girlfriend at 4 p.m. and the crash was at 4:22 p.m., according to Jamie Renton.
“None of us know why he was coming back over the grade,” his mom said.
Jamie Renton also lamented the level of interaction with CHP-Dublin – and lack thereof – in the aftermath of the crash.
“I opened up the Pleasanton Weekly online and I found out how he died,” she said, referring to the initial news article from Thursday night based on information CHP put out on social media about the crash with specifics apparently not shared with the family directly.
Other than an initial phone call from a CHP officer within an hour or so of the crash – asking strange, uncomfortable questions like was he a good rider and did he have social media accounts while she was still in shock – Jamie Renton said, “Have not heard from them.” She added that her boss contacted CHP-Dublin on the family’s behalf the next day, spoke with investigators and got the up-to-date case information.
The family remains hopeful that CHP officers will be able to determine what exactly happened during the crash – even if it could take two to four months, or more, as they have been told, according to Jamie Renton.
“The CHP is asking for your help with any information regarding this crash,” the agency said in its follow-up press release Friday. “We appreciate the public’s assistance in these investigations, and often, your help can answer questions we are looking for.”
Potential witnesses can call CHP-Dublin at 925-828-0466 and ask for Officer Albarran or Officer Purl.
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