Garden Grove Driver Survives Crash : Speeding Truck Overturns and Catches Fire

A trucker reportedly driving more than 80 m.p.h. on La Palma Avenue in Buena Park early Monday apparently fell asleep at the wheel, sending his big-rig tractor into a 320-foot skid during which it crashed through some trees, flipped over and burst into flames, according to police.

The tractor was so badly damaged that police could not at first determine its make. Yet the driver, Henry H. Herrera, 52, of Garden Grove, escaped with only a broken left arm and scratches and bruises, officers said.

Buena Park Police Lt. Gary Hicken said Herrera was found unconscious in some bushes about 30 feet from the charred truck.

“It’s amazing this guy made it,” Hicken said.

Herrera sustained the arm injury when he was thrown from the cab of the tractor, Hicken said. He was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was admitted and underwent surgery.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident, and no one else was injured, Hicken said.

Blood-alcohol tests conducted at the medical center indicated that Herrera had not been drinking, Police Officer Richard McMillen said.

Officer Larry Hainley, a police traffic investigator, said Herrera’s tractor, which was not pulling a trailer, was traveling west on La Palma Avenue near La Fiesta Drive at about 1 a.m. when the crash occurred. The intersection is about two blocks from Knott’s Berry Farm.

Hainley said witnesses reported seeing the tractor run several red lights at speeds exceeding 80 m.p.h. The vehicle left skid marks as long as a football field before careening to the side of the street, ramming two palm trees, flipping over and coming to rest upside down.

As the tractor overturned, its diesel fuel tank tore away and ignited, and two of the tractor’s three axles were torn off, Hainley said.

Herrera “probably was ejected from the truck through the front windshield,” which saved his life, Hainley said.

It was not clear whether Herrera owned the truck, police said. A check Monday morning with the Department of Motor Vehicles indicated that Herrera either was in the process of purchasing the truck or was selling it.

According to Herrera’s wife, Arlene, Herrera has been driving tractor-trailers for his brother’s trucking company in Chino. She said that Herrera has been in the trucking business for 40 years and is a good driver with a clean record.