Car Crashes Into Bench, Kills 1 : Accidents: Three are injured in Seal Beach. In Huntington Beach, one person died and six are hurt when an ambulance is hit.

A car driven by an 85-year-old woman plowed into a bus bench near Leisure World Thursday and trapped people beneath the wheels, killing one and injuring three others.

The victims had been waiting for a bus shortly after 5 p.m. when the car jumped a curb and careened into them. The impact pushed back the bus bench and demolished the bus shelter.

Authorities said two tow truck drivers from a nearby gas station who happened to be near the bus stop at Seal Beach Boulevard and St. Cloud Drive ran to help. They jacked the car up onto wooden blocks and helped to free two victims trapped beneath it, including an 80-year-old woman. Two others who had been hit by the car were found in nearby bushes.

The 80-year-old, from Seal Beach, was airlifted to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, where she later died. Her name was not immediately released.

Workers at a nearby bakery said the two male victims were their co-workers. They are Rigoberto Palanco, 34, and Cornelio Escobedo, 21, both of Santa Ana. Palanco was in stable condition at Los Alamitos Medical Center with broken ribs, and Escobedo was in stable condition at Long Beach Memorial Center with two broken arms.

The fourth victim, Patricia Mota, 30, was in fair condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Battalion Chief Mike McCoy of the Orange County Fire Department said the driver of the car, who was not injured, was taken to the Seal Beach police station immediately after the accident where she was interviewed.

“I think she just lost control of the car,” McCoy said. “There is no indication that it was anything more than that. I don’t think speed was a factor.”

Seal Beach police continued interviewing the driver late Thursday, and she had not been arrested.

Brandon Moore, a busboy at Marie Callender’s restaurant nearby, said: “I heard a loud crash that sounded like a house being demolished. When I ran out there, there was a big dust cloud and you couldn’t see a thing. Cars were just going everywhere.”

Tow truck driver Scott Herrick, 22, arrived only a few moments later.

“We saw a big cloud of smoke. I stopped and we told our dispatcher to call police. There was smoke everywhere. The woman was in the car, and she had it in reverse and was trying to back up and she was burning rubber everywhere.”

“I looked under the car and a tire was on a woman’s chest. I told her everything would be OK and told her help was on the way.”

Bakery workers Charles Feder and Janice Ahlgren said they also heard the crash and ran outside to help.

“Cornelio was under the car and was moving his legs, so I knew he was alive,” Feder said. “Rigoberto was in intense pain and asked me to call his sister. We tried to comfort them as best we could.”

Ahlgren said the men “were just sitting there minding their own business. I don’t understand how something like this could happen. We’re just in shock. They are terrific people. The best.”

Eleven-year-old Jose Naimo was on his way to a Thrifty drugstore with his older sister when the accident occurred.

“I saw the car coming and it was skidding,” said the shaken sixth-grader. “The car bumped off of the curb and it landed on top of everyone, and then there was a lot of smoke.”

In a separate accident a few minutes later, an ambulance was hit broadside at a busy Huntington Beach intersection.

An elderly woman who was in cardiac arrest in the ambulance died just before the accident occurred, Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Lloyd Edwards said.

The time of her death was confirmed by officials at Humana Hospital-Huntington Beach after examining the woman’s wounds.

Police arrested Narciso Guerrero, 48, of Huntington Beach on suspicion of felony drunk driving, Edwards said. Guerrero was the driver of a blue Jeep Cherokee that hit the ambulance as it crossed Warner Avenue and Springdale Street.

A paramedic in the ambulance broke his shoulder in the crash, but the ambulance driver and his passenger and the three people in the second vehicle escaped with minor cuts and bruises, police said.

The accident occurred about 6:45 p.m. as the ambulance with its lights and siren on was en route to Humana Hospital-Huntington Beach.

As the ambulance approached the intersection, the Jeep smashed into the center of the ambulance, causing it to turn over on its side and slide several feet to the sidewalk, Police Lt. William Stuart said.

“All vehicles had yielded at the intersection but (the Jeep) going south on Springdale hit the ambulance,” Stuart said.

The Jeep flipped twice before landing at a corner Arco gasoline station, and a small fire broke out that was quickly doused by Huntington Beach firefighters, Stuart said.

A third car was hit by the ambulance as it skidded on its side. The driver, Melissa Dowyer of Costa Mesa, was not injured, though her vehicle was slightly damaged.

“It took forever. There wasn’t a lot I could do. It all happened in slow motion. It was unbelievable,” Dowyer said.

This article was reported by Greg Hernandez and correspondent Shelby Grad and written by David Reyes.