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Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: Accidents

Woman suspected in a recent hit and run accident turned herself into the SAPD

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On Sunday, October 6th, 2019 at approximately 8:31pm, the Santa Ana and Garden Grove Police Departments received several calls of a pedestrian versus vehicle traffic collision in the 2500 block of N. Fairview Avenue. Officers from both departments responded to the area and found an elderly female pedestrian to still be down in the roadway.

Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) personnel responded and began to treat the pedestrian before she was transported by CARE Ambulance to the UCI Medical Center with major internal injuries. The vehicle involved in this collision, identified as a possible silver sedan, fled from the scene prior to the officers’ arrival.

The preliminary investigation has revealed the female pedestrian and a male companion were crossing Fairview from west to east when she was struck by the vehicle which was headed north. After striking the pedestrian, the vehicle continued north on Fairview.

On October 7th, 2019 at approximately 2:00 pm. a female came to the front lobby of the police department accompanied by her attorney to turn herself in, in regards to this collision. The female, identified as Karina Garcia, a 25 year-old Irvine resident, admitted to striking a pedestrian in the area of Fairview and Trask Avenues on October 6th around 8:00 pm while operating her silver Honda Civic. She later disclosed the location of the involved vehicle and it was located and secured as evidence within the City of Irvine. The vehicle was found to have obvious, moderate damage consistent with striking a pedestrian.

Driver Karina Garcia was booked in the Santa Ana Police City Jail on one count of 20001(a) CVC, Hit & Run Causing Injury (Felony) and 14601.2(a) CVC, Driving on a License Suspended for DUI (Misdemeanor). The collision remains under investigation.

The Santa Ana Police Department’s Collision Investigation Unit (CIU) is handling the investigation. Anyone possibly having information about this collision is asked to contact Corporal Brett Nelson at (714) 245-8208 or the Santa Ana Police Department’s Traffic Division at (714) 245-8200.

A female pedestrian was injured in a hit and run crash in Santa Ana

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An unidentified woman is in critical condition after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver while she was crossing a street with her husband in Santa Ana on Sunday, according to ABC News.

The crash took place at about 8:30 p.m. near Fairview Street, between Trask Avenue and Garden Grove.

She was rushed to the University of California Irvine Medical Center with head trauma, according to CBS News.

Her husband was not injured in the crash.

The police did not reveal any No details were available on the suspect vehicle. Investigators are searching for any nearby surveillance video.

Someone crashed into an SAPD police car early this morning, injuring a police officer

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A patrol car driven by a Santa Ana police officer collided with another vehicle at about 1:30 a.m. this morning, according to the O.C. Register.

The crash happened at the intersection of N. Main Street and W. Civic Center Drive, according to ABC News.

The police officer ended up in the hospital but had stable vital signs, according to the SAPD.

The driver of the other car had to take a field sobriety test at the scene. No report yet as to whether or not he was hurt or will be charged with a DUI.

A news videographer at the scene told the O.C. Register that the driver of the other vehicle was seen sitting on a curb.

One of our readers reported the incident to us at 4 a.m. The intersection remained closed to the public until about 5 a.m. this morning while the police conducted their investigation.

The accident happened in the Civic Center area, not far from the SAPD headquarters, and just north of the Artists Village/DTSA, where there are many bars. Pro bar enthusiasts have been petitioning the State Legislature to keep bars open until 4 a.m., a crazy idea we hope never comes to pass.

A woman was arrested in Costa Mesa in a stolen pickup truck after a crash and a police pursuit

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An unidentified woman who fled the scene of a crash in Tustin in a stolen vehicle led police on a pursuit through Costa Mesa on Thursday, Aug. 15, according to the O.C. Register.

Tustin police officers reported to the scene of a reported collision at about 5:30 p.m.. However the driver of a blue pickup truck involved in that crash took off before the police arrived.

The police later found out that the truck in question had been reported stolen. Fortunately they spotted it later that day in Tustin.

The suspect however did not pull over and instead led the police officers on a pursuit through Costa Mesa. The pursuit finally ended at about 6 p.m. in the area of Bristol Street and Anton Boulevard, according to the Tustin Police.

The suspect was identified to be a woman and was arrested on Thursday evening. The police did not release her identity to the media.

No injuries were reported in either the initial collision, or the eventual police pursuit.

A 19-year-old DUI driver was arrested after crashing into the fence of an O.C. jail early today

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At about 3:30 a.m. this morning, a 19-year-old crashed her car into the entrance gate of the James A. Musick jail facility, according to the O.C. Sheriff’s Twitter feed.

The unidentified female driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and booked into OC jail.

A brown Range Rover suffered front-end damage near the guard-shack building of the jail, at 13502 Musick. A metal gate was also bent and knocked to the ground, according to the O.C. Register.

The suspect was not booked into the jail she crashed at. The Musick facility temporarily stopped housing detainees as of July 18 while the department makes changes to its jail operations and builds new facilities, according to ABC News.

The Sheriff’s Department posted “We are grateful no OCSD personnel were injured in this collision. While this damage can be fixed, we know that’s not always the case with DUI collisions. Losing a loved one or friend is irreparable. Please always designate a driver or coordinate a ride.”

A Santa Ana man was among four killed in a head-on motorcycle collision on Sunday

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Picture from David Terman’s Facebook page

A Santa Ana resident, David Mark Terman, 59, died in a head-on motorcycle collision on Sunday, according to the O.C. Register.

Terman was on a motorcycle with Edith Mae Hegy, 62, of Elko, Nevada. They both died in the crash.

The Register reported that a Harley-Davidson, with a rider and a passenger, were traveling north about a quarter-mile south of Hicks Haul Road, northwest of Silverado Canyon and south of Irvine Lake and tried to pass a vehicle, according to the California Highway Patrol said: It went into opposing traffic and slammed into a second motorcycle, a Honda, with two people aboard.

Terman is pictured on an older Facebook page on a Honda motorcycle.

The others that were killed in the crash were Regina Michelle Crowder, 48, of Fountain Valley and Jon Michael Schwarz, 50, of Tustin. Each motorcycle involved in the collision was carrying a man and a woman.

Terman’s current Facebook page noted that he was “getting into carpentry work instead of plumbing.” He was a Missionary at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was originally from Indianapolis, Indiana.

The SAPD has arrested a suspect in Friday’s major injury hit and run collision

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On 06/29/2019, at approximately 9:30 AM, a member of the community notified the Santa Ana Police Department of a suspicious vehicle parked in a residential area. The citizen believed the vehicle may be related to the hit & run collision under investigation, according to the SAPD.

Detectives were called to the scene and determined the vehicle was involved.

Further investigation led Detectives to arrest suspect Lucio Luna, a 48-year-old resident of Santa Ana.

Luna was booked at the Orange County Jail for the charges of Felony Hit and Run DUI.

  • ORIGINAL MESSAGE –

On Friday, June 28, 2019 at approximately 10:37PM the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) received a call of a vehicle versus pedestrian traffic collision near the intersection of 1st and Townsend Streets with a pedestrian down in the street. SAPD officers responded to the area and found the pedestrian to still be down in the roadway. The pedestrian was initially found to have a faint pulse and shallow breathing before all signs of life ceased. Officers began CPR until Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) personnel arrived and took over. The pedestrian was transported to an area hospital where he was admitted in extremely critical condition.

The preliminary investigation revealed the pedestrian, who was in a wheelchair, was crossing 1st Street in a southerly direction within a marked crosswalk when he was struck by a vehicle headed east. Following the collision, the vehicle failed to stop and continued east on 1st. The outstanding vehicle is believed to be a black or dark colored Toyota Camry that should have extensive damage to its front end.

The Santa Ana Police Department’s Collision Investigations Unit (CIU) responded to the collision scene and handled the investigation. Anyone possibly having information about this collision and or the outstanding vehicle is asked to contact the Santa Ana Police Department’s Traffic Division at (714) 245-8200 or Investigator N. Quinones at (714) 245-8284.

The SAPD is investigating a hit and run crash involving a man in a wheelchair

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On Friday, June 28, 2019 at approximately 10:37 PM the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) received a call of a vehicle versus pedestrian traffic collision near the intersection of 1st and Townsend Streets with a pedestrian down in the street, according to the SAPD.

SAPD officers responded to the area and found the pedestrian to still be down in the roadway. The pedestrian was initially found to have a faint pulse and shallow breathing before all signs of life ceased. Officers began CPR until Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) personnel arrived and took over. The pedestrian was transported to an area hospital where he was admitted in extremely critical condition.

The preliminary investigation revealed the pedestrian, who was in a wheelchair, was crossing 1st Street in a southerly direction within a marked crosswalk when he was struck by a vehicle headed east. Following the collision, the vehicle failed to stop and continued east on 1st. The outstanding vehicle is believed to be a black or dark colored Toyota Camry that should have extensive damage to its front end.

The Santa Ana Police Department’s Collision Investigations Unit (CIU) responded to the collision scene and handled the investigation. Anyone possibly having information about this collision and or the outstanding vehicle is asked to contact the Santa Ana Police Department’s Traffic Division at (714) 245-8200 or Investigator N. Quinones at (714) 245-8284.

A woman’s legs has to be amputated after a DUI crash in Garden Grove

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Andres Ramon Salas, 35, of Garden Grove, was arrested after crashing his vehicle into a 66-year-old Garden Grove woman, whose legs later had to be amputated as a result, and then trying to flee from the scene, according to the O.C. Register.

The Garden Grove police found the victim pinned against her car when they responded to the 8000 block of Larson Avenue shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.

The woman was pinned behind her car when the suspect plowed his car into hers as she was standing behind her vehicle, in her neighborhood.

The suspect then tried to speed off but he proceeded to crash into another vehicle about 700 feet away.

The suspect was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to the Garden Grove Police.

The woman ended up at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, where her legs were amputated. She remains in critical condition.

A bicyclist died after being struck by a vehicle that jumped the curb in Santa Ana last night

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On Tuesday, June 11th, 2019 at approximately 10:14 PM . the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) Dispatch received several calls reporting a traffic collision involving a vehicle and a pedestrian or bicyclist near the intersection of Fairview and Harvard Streets, according to the SAPD.

As the first officers arrived on-scene, they found a male laying on the west sidewalk near a bicycle with major trauma. Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) personnel responded and briefly treated the male before CARE Ambulance transported him to OC Global Medical Center for treatment. The male was later pronounced deceased at the hospital. In addition to the injured male at the scene, officers were contacted by a male who identified himself as the driver of the vehicle that was involved in this collision.

The preliminary investigation of this collision has revealed the involved vehicle was headed south on Fairview Street while the pedestrian or bicyclist was headed north on the west sidewalk. While traveling south on Fairview, the vehicle jumped the west curbline for some unknown reason and struck the male who was either riding the bicycle or walking adjacent to it. After colliding with the pedestrian, the involved vehicle continued for a short distance south on Fairview before turning into a parking lot. The driver then called police and ran back to where the injured male was lying on the sidewalk.

The cause of this collision remains under investigation. Alcohol and drugs do not appear to be a factor in this collision. The identity and cause of death for the decedent will be determined by the Orange County Coroner’s Office.

The Santa Ana Police Department’s Collision Investigations Unit (CIU) responded to the collision scene and handled the investigation. Anyone having possible information about this collision is asked to contact the Santa Ana Police Department’s Traffic Division at (714) 245-8200.

A suspected DUI driver smashed into another car while driving the wrong way on the 5 Fwy. early this morning

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A wrong-way driver suspected of DUI plowed head-on into another car on the 5 Freeway early Saturday morning, injuring four people, according to the O.C. Register.

The incident happened at around 1:32 a.m. when a car traveling southbound in the northbound carpool lane on the 5 Freeway, near First St., plowed into a vehicle heading north, according to the CHP.

Four people were seriously injured in the vehicle that was going north. They were hospitalized with major injuries.

The driver of the wrong-way vehicle was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Traffic was so bad because of the accident that the CHP had a hard time getting to the scene of the accident. Traffic had to be stopped to allow the responding ambulances and fire trucks to reach the scene of the accident. In fact they had to drive the wrong way on the freeway to get to the victims.

The identities of the suspected DUI driver and the injured people were not released.

A Santa Ana man pleaded guilty to a fatal DUI pedestrian collision

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Alberto Solano Diaz of Santa Ana, a 38-year-old convicted drunken driver, pleaded guilty Wednesday, May 15, to an alcohol-fueled hit-and-run collision that killed a homeless woman in April, according to the O.C. Register.

Diaz accepted charges of a felony count of hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury and one misdemeanor count each of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and driving under the influence of alcohol. He is set be sentenced on June 7.

An SAPD police officer who was on patrol found 40-year-old Leticia Marquez lying in the road, just past midnight, on April 24, on Standard Ave., north of Edinger Ave., according to the SAPd.

Police investigators determined that Marquez had been in a crosswalk but could not ascertain if she was crossing against a red light when she was struck by a vehicle. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

As it turned out other SAPD officers found unoccupied car that had major front-end damage, a couple blocks away from where Marquez was struck. Diaz, who showed signs of intoxication, was walking away from the car when the police officers detained him.

Diaz previously pleaded guilty, back in 2009, to misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of .08 and driving without a valid driver’s license. At the time he was placed on three years of informal probation and he was ordered to pay $440 in fines and participate in a first-offender alcohol program for three months.

Diaz has since had his probation revoked and reactivated because he did not pay his fines.

The SAPD is looking for anyone who witnessed the horrific car accident on May 13

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The SAPD Collision Investigation Unit is releasing new video of the major injury collision that occurred on 5-13-2019, in the area of McFadden Avenue and Jackson Street at 12:30pm.

Investigators are looking for any potential witnesses who may have observed the original collision between the white Acura and the stake bed truck at the intersection of McFadden Avenue and Riverview Market Place.0

The video shows there were additional vehicles at that intersection where the original collision occurred. Investigators would like to talk to any of those individuals who may have witnessed the collision.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigator Quinones at 714-245-8284. The driver of the Acura remains hospitalized in critical condition.

The SAPD is investigating a fatal car accident that happened on Sunday night

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On Sunday May 5th, 2019 at approximately 8:33 PM, the Santa Ana Police Department Dispatch received calls reporting a traffic collision between a bicyclist and a vehicle in the area of Standard Avenue and First Street just under the railroad overcrossing.

The calling party reported he was driving his 2014 dark grey Dodge Charger in the number two lane at 25 MPH when he struck the male subject with the front of his vehicle. The adult Hispanic male in his early 60’s was still in the roadway. Santa Ana Police officers and Orange County Fire Authority responded to the location code three (lights and sirens) to assess the situation. Several bystanders began gathering around the male subject to protect him from passing vehicles. The male subject suffered severe internal injuries and was not breathing. As the first officers arrived on-scene, they located the male subject lying in front of the grey Dodge Charger in the number two lane. OCFA Medics started treating the male subject with lifesaving efforts. OCFA Medics transported him to OC Global Trauma Center to be treated. He was later declared deceased at the hospital.

The preliminary investigation of this collision has revealed the male subject was walking or riding his bike eastbound along the north sidewalk and fell into the traffic lanes. The driver of the dark grey Dodge Charger struck the pedestrian and remained at the scene. Speed and alcohol do not seem to be a factor in this collision. The identity of the decedent will be determined by the Orange County Coroner’s Office.

The Santa Ana Police Department’s Collision Investigation Unit (CIU) responded to the collision and handled the investigation. Anyone having possible information about this collision is asked to contact the Santa Ana Police Department’s Traffic Division at (714) 245-8200.