23 Injured as Car Crashes Through DMV Office Wall

A Tijuana man crashed his automobile through a wall and into a crowded Department of Motor Vehicles office here Thursday, injuring 23 as the car bulldozed through a lobby filled with people.

One witness, Valdez George, 39, said people were tossed about like “toy soldiers.”

“They hit each other and fell down,” said George, who suffered minor bruises and scrapes. “He went straight and took everyone out. . . . There was a bunch of dirt flying all over. People were screaming.”

Four people were hurt seriously, including one woman who was pinned against the grill and front bumper of the 1977 Plymouth Volare when it came to rest against an inside wall.

Driver Hospitalized

Police identified the driver of the car as 64-year-old Augustin Medina of Tijuana. He was reported in good condition at Mercy Hospital in San Diego. Doctors determined that he had suffered a “slight stroke.”

Police have talked to Medina about the accident but have not yet determined its cause. They gave no address for Medina, but DMV records show that his car is registered to a house in Chula Vista.

Beatrix Vargas, who lives at the Tremont Street address, said Medina is a family friend from Tijuana who uses her home as a mailing address.

“My husband called (Medina) at the hospital, and he told him that his leg started to fall asleep and he lost control of the car,” Vargas said. “He said the car accelerated. . . . He doesn’t know what happened.”

Shortly before 11 a.m., Medina’s car crashed through the south wall of the DMV office, near where about 15 people were waiting at a window to pay their car registration fees and pick up license plates. Some witnesses said they thought a bomb had gone off when the car burst through the wall.

Scramble for Safety

The car immediately careened right and plowed through a lobby filled with about 150 people, who scrambled to get out of the way, the witnesses said.

“It was mass hysteria,” said Mark Wilson, who was in line at the office.

Billy Shaw, a Chula Vista car salesman who was in the building, said the accident was like a “big earthquake. Bodies were flying everywhere.”

Felipe Gutierrez was near the front of the line at the window when he suddenly felt the runaway car smash into him. He was dragged by the right leg for 30 feet.

“I just saw people were screaming and the (parts of the building’s) walls that were on the car itself,” the Spanish-speaking Gutierrez said through an interpreter. “I truly didn’t know it was a car until it was over me.”

Watched Helplessly

Gutierrez, 41, said he watched helplessly as other people stepped over his body to apprehend the driver after the car crashed to a stop. Gutierrez was listed in serious condition at Scripps Memorial Hospital with a fractured right leg.

Most seriously hurt was Maria Morfin, 31, of Tijuana. She was taken by helicopter to UC San Diego Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition with internal injuries.

Morfin was sitting along the east wall of the office, waiting for her husband, who was in line, when the car crashed through and headed straight for her. She was pinned by the car when it hit the opposite wall and stopped, witnesses said.

In all, paramedics took 17 people to six area hospitals. Six others suffered minor injuries and refused treatment, officials said.

The accident left a gaping hole in the south wall of the 13,400-square-foot building. Plaster and wood were strewn through the lobby, and the east wall where the car came to rest was pushed out from the foundation about three feet.

DMV officials said they called construction crews in to repair the damage so the office could reopen today.

Times staff writer Nancy Reed contributed to this story.