LAKEPORT ? A head-on collision Friday morning just south of Highland Springs Road on Highway 29 sent three people to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, the California Highway Patrol confirmed at the scene.
A badly crumpled, gray 2002 Mazda Tribute DX was blocking both lanes at 7:50 a.m., surrounded by three Lakeport Fire Protection District ambulances and three CHP cars. A 2002 white Ford Escort was at the bottom of an embankment nearby, having left a trail of broken glass that lead to where the car”s crumpled nose stopped just inches from fencing around an adjacent vineyard.
“A witness said the Mazda was headed north at 55 miles per hour, and the Ford was headed southbound, 55, and the next thing you know the Ford crossed into the other lane and got hit head-on. We don”t know why,” CHP officer Craig Van Hausen said at the scene.
A five-year-old girl inside the Mazda cried for her mother while Lakeport Fire Protection District paramedics worked to remove the girl”s mother from the wrecked car and load her onto a gurney.
CHP officer Greg Baxter identified the Mazda”s driver as Shawna Witt, 33, of Kelseyville. Paramedics used neck braces and plastic wrap wound around Witt”s and her daughter”s heads to keep them steady as they were removed from the cars, a standard procedure, according to Baxter. Two firemen carried the child in her car seat to an ambulance.
According to a press release later in the day from CHP officer Adam Garcia, the girl was not injured.
The Ford driver was also taken by ambulance to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, according to Baxter. She was identified as Kelseyville resident Claudia Madrid, 61. Baxter said both drivers suffered moderate injuries.
“It was mostly complaints of pain,” Baxter said, adding that the outcome could have been a lot worse.
Traffic was closed on Highway 29 in both directions for approximately 45 minutes. The highway was re-opened at 8:30 a.m.
Garcia said in the press release that Madrid was suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol. Baxter is investigating the incident.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
