Local News in Brief : Garden Grove : Driver Severely Injured in Crash Off Freeway
A 23-year-old Santa Ana man was severely injured Thursday when he was thrown from his small pickup truck after it was jolted from the Garden Grove Freeway and down an embankment, authorities said.
Martin Castro was listed in critical condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange late Thursday, suffering from head injuries and multiple fractures, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Castro’s truck and a Honda car were traveling westbound on the Garden Grove Freeway west of Springdale Street at about 7:35 a.m. when they both began to merge into the same lane, said California Highway Patrol Officer John Connolly.
The two drivers saw one another and swerved back, but the Honda veered onto the shoulder, then back to the freeway lanes, hitting the left rear section of Castro’s truck, Connolly said.
Castro was jolted off the freeway, where his truck left the ground, plunged through some trees, fell down an embankment, crashed through a fence and landed in a concrete drainage ditch, Connolly said.
The truck cab was sheared off by a tree branch, he said. Castro was flown by helicopter to the hospital.
The second driver was not injured. Connolly said the driver was not cited, but the CHP is continuing to investigate the accident.
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