ANAHEIM : Car Hits Man After Driver Is Stricken

A fatally stricken driver, apparently the victim of a heart attack, veered out of control Tuesday, knocking down a fire hydrant and hitting a gardener.

The driver was later identified as Dale W. Wolfe, 58, of Santa Ana. Wolfe was going west on La Palma Avenue just before 4 p.m. when he apparently suffered a heart attack, Police Lt. Marc Hedgpeth said.

The car swerved and jumped the center divider, struck a telephone service box, upset a fire hydrant and hit 27-year-old Angel Echeverria, who was gardening.

The car finally came to rest against a tree. Police and paramedics arrived to find the driver still inside the car, Echeverria lying on the grass and a “geyser of water” spouting from the hydrant, Hedgpeth said.

The driver was “in full cardiac arrest” at the scene and was taken to Kaiser Permanente Hospital-Orange County, where he was pronounced dead at 4:40 p.m., Hedgpeth said.

Echeverria, of Santa Ana, was taken to Placentia-Linda Community Hospital in Placentia, where he was treated for minor injuries and released.