COSTA MESA : 2 Drivers Injured as Vehicles Collide

Two motorists were injured Friday after one driver tried to make a left turn from the wrong lane and skidded down an embankment onto the Costa Mesa Freeway, broadsiding another car, police said.

Kimberly Rusher, 21, of Costa Mesa was southbound on Newport Boulevard about 8:45 a.m. when she attempted to turn onto Fair Drive from the middle lane, Lt. John FitzPatrick said.

Rusher’s car cut off Teri Lee Stevenson, 28, police said.

Stevenson, also of Costa Mesa, tried to brake quickly but collided with Rusher, causing Rusher to lose control, police said.

Rusher’s car then jumped a chain link fence and bounced several times down a dirt embankment. When she landed on the freeway, she hit a sport utility vehicle being driven by Edward Flecky, 40, of Costa Mesa, police said.

Stevenson was not injured, FitzPatrick said. Rusher and Flecky were taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana to be treated for moderate injuries, he said.

No one has been cited and the accident was still being investigated, FitzPatrick said. But he added: “It appears that the initial fault is on Rusher.”

Allan J. Smith of Newport Beach said he was driving south on the Costa Mesa Freeway behind Flecky when he saw Rusher’s car fly off the embankment and hit the utility vehicle on its right front.

Rusher’s car started spinning on impact, and the other vehicle spun clockwise, catapulting on its side, he said.

“She was coming at one hell of a speed,” Smith said. “He had no chance of missing her. I thought they were both dead. . . . He barrel-rolled at least four, five or six times, until he came to rest in the No. 1 lane.”