Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Alleged Drunk Driver Maims Woman : Accident: Brenda Mendez loses part of her leg as she and three other pedestrians are hit.

An 18-year-old woman lost part of her right leg after she and three other pedestrians--including a child--were injured when an alleged drunk driver crashed onto a sidewalk, authorities said Wednesday.

The woman, Brenda Mendez, was knocked into a curbside planter when the driver made a high-speed turn through a red light and onto the sidewalk Tuesday night, officials and witnesses said. The car nearly severed Mendez’s leg and she suffered a head wound as well in the crash.

Mendez was holding 2-year-old Gloria Castro, who suffered scrapes, said Deputy Amos Cisneros of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. The car also struck Oralia Hernandez, 19, who was knocked into Gloria’s mother, Elvira Hernandez, 29.

Mendez was transported by ambulance to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, where her leg was amputated, said her sister, Rosa, in an interview at the hospital Wednesday. Mendez cannot speak but is conscious and has responded to verbal commands, Rosa Mendez said.

Oralia Hernandez, 19, was treated and released at Henry Mayo for back and neck injuries. Elvira Hernandez sustained lacerations to her legs.

Police arrested Sandra Jane Altschuler, 39, of Saugus, on suspicion of drunk driving and causing great bodily injury. Witnesses said she passed other cars stopping in the left-turn lanes on northbound Bouquet Canyon Road and made an uncontrolled, wide left turn, striking the pedestrians and shearing off a fire hydrant.

Altschuler was not injured, authorities said.

“I just held my breath, I swear to God,” said Al Brown, a Glendale resident who stopped on southbound Bouquet Canyon Road for the red light. “She just took them down like bowling pins.”

The group was struck as they walked home from from a fast-food restaurant at about 9:20 p.m.

Witnesses described Altschuler as hysterical following the accident, telling deputies “she didn’t care that she hit an adult and was only concerned that she didn’t injure a child,” according to a report by Sheriff’s Deputy George Guevara.

Altschuler was arguing with a crowd of 10 to 15 bystanders when Guevara arrived and “it looked as if the crowd was attempting to lynch” her, he said. Officials said she resisted attempts to arrest her, and she was forcibly placed in a patrol car to separate her from the crowd.

Breath tests indicated that Altschuler had a blood-alcohol level of .17%, more than twice the state’s legal limit of .08%, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Brad Stone.

Altschuler, who has no prior criminal record, is scheduled to be arraigned today in Newhall Municipal Court on two counts of felony drunk driving causing injury and one count of being an uninsured motorist, Stone said. She is in custody in lieu of $50,000 bail and faces up to six years in state prison if convicted.