Countywide : Caltrans Worker Saves Driver’s Life

When Caltrans truck driver Scott Hanson first saw the speeding car slamming into a row of barricades along the Costa Mesa Freeway, he was certain he was seeing a bizarre suicide attempt.

But when Hanson saw the car’s driver slumped behind the wheel, the 26-year-old Mission Viejo man realized his California Department of Transportation rig might be the only way to save her.

“She was just running into the sand barrels along the road and then the wall divider, and I knew that if she kept going she was probably going to kill herself or somebody else,” Hanson said Monday, recounting the incident that occurred about 8 a.m. June 21 on the southbound side of the freeway near McFadden Avenue.

Hanson maneuvered his truck in front of the weaving car and slowed down until he was traveling at a similar speed. Letting his foot off the accelerator, he let the battered car repeatedly hit the collapsible aluminum bumper mounted on the back of his truck.

“I knew I was in the perfect spot with the perfect equipment to save her,” said Hanson, a maintenance worker with Caltrans for three months. “I just kept slowing down and lightly applying the air brakes until she was stopped behind me.”

Minutes later, paramedics were climbing through the crumpled car’s passenger door to reach a dazed Sheri LaGuardia, 22, of Placentia, whose car was pinned between the truck and center divider wall.

LaGuardia, who had a diabetic seizure, said the last thing she fully remembered was passing the Chapman Avenue exit on the way to work in Tustin. LaGuardia then began blacking out, drifting in and out of consciousness while her car weaved through traffic.

LaGuardia found herself being revived by emergency workers almost three miles past the spot where she began feeling disoriented.

“It was so strange,” said LaGuardia, whose diabetes was diagnosed 10 years ago. “Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. I had never blacked out. I feel really lucky to be alive.”

Neither LaGuardia nor Hanson was injured, although LaGuardia said the wrenching ride left her sore. While her Chevrolet Spectrum required $3,300 in repairs and the Caltrans truck will require a new shock bumper, no other vehicles were damaged.

“I’d call (Hanson) a hero,” Caltrans spokeswoman Pam Gorniak said. “A lot of people these days don’t want to get involved. But when he saw this person in trouble, he didn’t even think twice. He very possibly saved her life.”