Driver Having Seizure Hits Caltrans Worker

A Caltrans landscaper working on the side of the Orange Freeway suffered broken bones and other injuries Thursday when she was struck by a car whose driver was having a diabetic seizure, officials said.

Luzera Sanchez, 28, was spraying weedkiller on the landscaped turf bordering the freeway near Yorba Linda Boulevard when a car driven by 73-year-old Margaret Tenace of Westminster careened out of control about 1:40 p.m., the CHP said.

The car crashed into the center divider and then weaved across all four lanes before striking Sanchez and a Caltrans pickup truck, CHP spokeswoman Angel Johnson said.

“From what I understand, she was all over the freeway,” Johnson said. “She was fluctuating in speeds, from 70 to 90 mph, as far back as the [Garden Grove Freeway]. . . . We also received calls reporting a reckless driver in a Cadillac.”

Tenace was taken to St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton where she was reported in a coma.

Sanchez, who was thrown 50 feet by the force of the blow, suffered a damaged liver and a broken leg and ribs. She was in critical but stable condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange, a hospital spokesman said.

Sanchez, a Pasadena resident, has been with a Department of Transportation landscape crew based in Brea for about three years, Miranda said.