Woman rolls car, slams into fire hydrant

The driver of this Toyota Corolla knocked a fire hydrant over before rolling over several times on the 2800 block of Freedom Boulevard Wednesday morning. Photos by Tarmo Hannula/Register-Pajaronian

WATSONVILLE — A Watsonville woman suffered major injuries early Wednesday when she lost control of her car on Freedom Boulevard and rolled over several times.

California Highway Patrol officer Tom Frank said the 32-year-old woman was traveling southbound on Freedom Boulevard at 8:09 a.m. when she lost control of her 1996 Toyota Corolla sedan. At first she veered to the right, then the green sedan careened left across the northbound lane on the 2800 block, Frank said. The Toyota bashed over a speed limit sign and then sheared a fire hydrant before rolling over several times. The sedan eventually came to a rest upright in the parking lot of Mann’s Apples.

Though the woman, who had no passengers, suffered major injuries, she managed to get out of the car on her own. Frank said the woman had just dropped her kids off at Bradley Elementary School.

Cal Fire at Corralitos and American Medical Response paramedics called for a helicopter due to the extent of her injuries. She was taken to Watsonville Community Hospital and then flown to Regional Medical Center in San Jose.

The geyser that erupted from the hydrant presented a dangerous situation, because the water was pumping up into power lines.

Watsonville City workers Martin Sanchez and Richard Rodriguez eventually shut the water off with a large T-shaped water key. Sanchez said that about 1,500 to 2,000 gallons of water per minutes were issuing from the rupture.

Though traffic was slowed in the area Freedom Boulevard remained open throughout the ordeal.

The crash in still under investigation.

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For video of the crash scene, visit youtube.com/registerpajaronian

For the complete article see the 05-03-2012 issue.

Click here to purchase an electronic version of the 05-03-2012 paper.

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