‘Miracle’ on 135th St.: 14 in Auto Escape Death in Plunge Into Pit

In what authorities describe as “a miracle,” 14 people jammed into a car survived a 70-foot plunge into a gravel pit, with most suffering only minor injuries.

A 1971 Oldsmobile carrying three adults and 11 children careened off a Compton road and down into the 70-foot-deep rock quarry Monday night about 9:20 after the driver swerved to avoid hitting another car that had darted in front of her, Detective Michael Markey of the Compton Police Department said Tuesday.

Markey said no one in the Oldsmobile Delta 98 was wearing a seat belt when it went off the road on 135th Street, near McKinley Avenue.

“It’s a miracle that nobody was seriously hurt,” Markey said. “I’m really surprised. The car didn’t roll over either. It just went down and landed on all four wheels.”

Markey said he was also surprised that no one was thrown from the car.

“If someone had been thrown from the car, there might be somebody dead,” he said. “They might not have been thrown clear of the car, and it could have crushed them.”

Five of the victims were hospitalized in stable to fair condition at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

Vanessa Burns, a 34-year-old passenger from Compton, suffered the worst injuries--ankle and jaw fractures--according to King spokeswoman Paula Wauls. Burns was listed in stable condition.

“Everyone we have is doing pretty well,” Wauls said.

A 6-year-old girl was treated at King and released.

Another five victims, including the driver, Geneva White, were taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

White, 32, of Lynwood, suffered scratches and minor back injuries, Markey said. She was listed in fair condition.

The third adult, Deborah Gatson, 34, also of Compton, was listed in fair condition at Harbor-UCLA with minor cuts.

The other victims were also listed in stable to fair condition.

Three other victims were treated at Dominguez Medical Center and released.

Spokesmen for the hospitals would not release the identities of the children, who ranged in age from 9 months to 16 years. The relationship of the children to the adults was not immediately clear.

Authorities did not release information on where White and her passengers were going at the time of the accident.

A witness told police that the accident occurred when a red Mercury Capri cut in front of White’s car and forced her off the road, Markey said.

“No alcohol came into play in this,” he said. “At least not from the victims’ side.”

The detective said the skid marks left as White tried to stop her car showed that she was driving about 39 m.p.h.

Markey said the car skidded through the chain-link fence at the rock quarry, which belongs to the Atkinson Brickyard Co., and rolled down the slope of the quarry.

“The car knocked down about 80 feet of the fence,” said John Norwood, an Atkinson spokesman.

Markey said the Oldsmobile plummeted into the pit but never overturned.

“It just stayed stable, and the front end hit the bottom of the pit,” he said. “But it didn’t flip over or roll over like other cars might. That was really strange.”

He linked the size of the Oldsmobile, a long, luxury sedan, to the fact that no one was seriously injured.

“It’s a pretty sturdy car,” he said. “That’s probably what saved them. The car is so big.”

He said police are investigating the incident, although tracking down the Capri will be nearly impossible.