Driver crashes through school fence. When police show up — more than 5 hours later — he was still behind the wheel, sleeping
A driver who crashed through a metal fence at Rosemont Middle School in La Crescenta early Monday morning slept at the wheel for more than five hours before authorities showed up, officials said.
Neighbors called Crescenta Valley sheriff’s deputies shortly before 2 a.m. upon hearing the crash, after which deputies reportedly notified the California Highway Patrol, thinking CHP officers would handle the investigation.
Before 8 a.m., sheriff’s deputies were notified that the car was still there, so they responded and called CHP again, whose officers also showed up, according to Lt. Chad Sauter of the Crescenta Valley sheriff’s station.
There, they discovered two people sleeping in the car — the man behind the wheel and a woman in the passenger’s seat next to him.
It’s not clear what took authorities so long to respond.
“Something must’ve happened,” Sauter said. “Something must’ve fallen through the cracks.”
The BMW sedan had crashed through a metal fence and traveled about 200 yards before coming to rest in the school’s basketball court, according to CHP Officer Luis Parra.
Neither the driver nor the passenger was arrested. Both were transported to a hospital with minor injuries.
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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @atchek
