Six Injured when drunk Mexican driving Semi Charges Through Avenida Pico Intersection, Two Critical

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Six-Injured-when-Semi-Charges-Through-Avenida-Pico-Intersection--
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A tractor-trailer rig exiting Interstate 5 southbound at Avenida
Pico plowed through the intersection, snarling four cars in the
process, sending six people to the hospital and taking out a
traffic signal.

The accident, which happened around 10:40 a.m., forced
California Highway Patrol officers to shut down both the off
ramp and on ramp at Pico on the southbound side and Orange
County Sheriff's deputies to restrict street traffic west of the
freeway.

Officer Yolanda Topete, a community service officer with the
sheriff's department, said it appeared that the rig hadn't
stopped and proceeded through the intersection, across Pico and
up onto the southbound onramp. Deputies first received emergency
calls at 10:42 a.m., she said.

Orange County Fire Authority Battalion Chief Ron Roberts said a
family of four in a BMW suffered minor injuries in the accident
and two people in a Volvo sports utility vehicle were considered
critical trauma. All six were taken by ambulance to Mission
Hospital, he said.

All the airbags in the Volvo had deployed and the passenger side
was severely crushed. Firefighters needed to cut into the Volvo
to remove the passenger, Roberts said.

"It was a complex extrication," the battalion chief said. "That
must have been quite the scene seeing that (truck) come down."

The force of the tractor-trailer's impact caused the two cars,
which had been making a left turn from Pico onto the southbound
onramp, to turn completely around so that when they finally
stopped they were facing Pico. The semi eventually stopped
haphazardly to the left of the onramp.

A GMC sports utility vehicle, that had been on the Pico offramp,
was also rear-ended but had only minor damage. In a chain
reaction, the BMW, once hit, struck a Coca Cola truck that had
also been turning left onto the southbound onramp.

Roberts said the fire authority sent two fire engines, one truck
and him to assist at the scene. Four ambulances also responded,
he said.