VENTURA : Woman, 89, Fatally Injured in Collision

An 89-year-old Ventura woman has died after sustaining what had appeared to be minor head injuries in a traffic accident Wednesday afternoon in east Ventura.

Anna Streleckis was conscious and responsive after a truck smashed into her daughter’s car about 3:30 p.m. at Bristol Road and Sunridge Drive, Ventura police officials said. She had a cut on her right temple and forehead.

“What wasn’t known,” Cpl. John Turner said, “was that she had a skull fracture.” Streleckis died seven hours later at Community Memorial Hospital from blunt head injuries, Deputy Coroner Zelmira Isaac said.

The accident occurred less than 150 feet from the home Streleckis shared with her 71-year-old daughter, Bertie Gaertner, Turner said.

The women were driving home from a trip to the bank and grocery store when a young man in a gray truck pulled up beside them at a stop sign on Sunridge Drive, Turner said.

Thinking the man was going to make a right turn onto Bristol Road, Gaertner drove forward into the intersection. But the gray truck suddenly passed her, darting into the intersection and blocking her view of oncoming traffic.

Gaertner never saw a Ford truck that plowed into the side of her Toyota Corolla, causing her mother’s fatal injuries, Turner said. “It’s sad. Very sad,” he said. “This is pitiful all the way around.”

The driver of the gray truck stopped after the accident, then drove on, Turner said. The driver of the Ford truck, 22-year-old Gregory Clobes of Ventura, had not seen the women’s car because it was blocked by the passing gray truck, Turner said.