Countywide : Crash Victim Saved From Burning Car

Passing motorists and two restaurant workers pulled a 22-year-old Westlake man from a burning car and saved his life, police said Friday.

David Whittington suffered several broken bones and burns on about 45% of his lower body. He was in critical condition Friday at the Sherman Oaks Burn Center, a nursing supervisor said.

Whittington was driving about 11:20 p.m. Thursday on Oxnard Boulevard near Statham Boulevard in Oxnard, when his vehicle veered off the right shoulder and hit a traffic signal pole, police said. The car spun around, landed in a ditch and caught fire, police said.

A Santa Paula couple were following Whittington and saw the accident, police said. Jeri Ramirez ran to call 911 while her husband, Emeterio, tried to break a window to rescue Whittington, who was unconscious and trapped in his seat, police said.

Guillermo Amezquita and Kelly Bowen, who were working at a nearby Marie Callender’s Restaurant, heard the accident and ran to help. Roy Reed, another passing motorist, also stopped to give assistance, police said.

The rescuers pulled Whittington from his car while the dashboard and the undercarriage were on fire and put out the flames burning his lower body, police said.

When Whittington heard the ambulance and fire engines coming, he was able to stand up and run, police said. The witnesses thought he was in shock, tackled him and held him until medical help arrived, police said.

Daniel Levy, a physician at St. John’s Regional Medical Center, later told police that Whittington would have died from his burns if the others had not rescued him.