Husband’s Fear About Crash Realized--but After 4 Hours

For four frantic hours Friday, Richard Stacey made dozens of phone calls in an effort to find out what had happened to his wife, Sally Ann.

The Laguna Beach couple had planned to drive to Las Vegas for the weekend after she dropped their cat off at a veterinarian.

But when she failed to show up from the vet’s office, her husband began to worry.

Finally, after four hours and dozens of phone calls to police, he was told that his wife was involved in a fiery head-on collision on Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. Her Chevrolet Suburban had burst into flames after a truck skidded out of control and crashed into her.

Sally Stacey, 37, remained in critical condition Saturday morning at UCI Medical Center in Orange. She suffered a broken leg, broken ribs, a broken jaw, a crushed heel, a concussion and a bruised heart, her husband said. Complications might arise from the bruised heart, he added.

“It’s amazing and a miracle she’s alive,” said Stacey, 42, from the hospital.

The driver of the truck, Innocencio Juan Ochoa, 30, of Santa Ana, died shortly after the 7:50 a.m. collision. One of his passengers, Francisco Reyes, 22, also of Santa Ana, is also listed in critical condition at UCI Medical Center. A second passenger was treated and released.

Stacey said that as he waited for his wife to show up at his office Friday morning, he heard a radio report about a two-vehicle crash on Coast Highway. Fearing the worst, he began calling police departments and the California Highway Patrol.

“I gave everybody my wife’s license plate, and everyone told me she was not in the crash,” he said. “So I thought maybe she was just caught in traffic.”

But when more hours passed, he resumed his calls. Finally, a dispatcher told him the bad news.

The CHP said Ochoa was heading south on Coast Highway when his truck spun out of control and crashed into Sally Stacey’s car.

According to the CHP, the collision occurred on rain-slicked metal sheets that had been placed over trenches dug by MACCO Constructors Inc. of Paramount, a contracting company for the Southern California Gas Co. Workers are replacing a gas line between El Morro Elementary School in the Crystal Cove area and High Drive in Laguna Beach.

CHP officials said they have not determined the cause of the accident and are still investigating.

On Friday night, CHP and state Department of Transportation officials closed the southbound lane, the CHP said. It is not immediately known when the lane will be reopened.