With Nerves of Steel : Wreck in Construction Zone on Toll Road Traps Driver for 2 Hours

A big-rig truck carrying 32,000 pounds of metal beams overturned Monday on an incline in a construction zone of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor, trapping its driver in the tangled wreckage for two hours.

A team of firefighters struggled to free Ronald Dominicak, 43, of Riverside, who was airlifted to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. He was in fair condition Monday night with minor muscle damage on his right side.

The accident occurred about 11:45 a.m. on a stretch near Laguna Canyon Road. Construction on the toll road is expected to be completed by December.

Dominicak’s truck overturned as he tried to back it up a hill, causing the load to shift, said Carol Kelly, a California Highway Patrol spokeswoman.

“His whole load started shifting to the left side, causing his truck to roll over onto its roof,” Kelly said. “He was crunched in there, screaming and yelling.”

A Laguna Beach Fire Department spokesman said it took two hours to extricate Dominicak because he was tangled in the wreckage and it was unstable.

“He was totally upside-down, and the cab was crushed down” on top of him, said Mark Baker, a battalion chief with the Fire Department.

While rescuers used a Jaws of Life and other cutting tools to extricate the construction worker, Baker said, paramedics administered drugs intravenously and monitored his vital signs.

“Every time we thought we had him untangled,” Baker said, “it would appear that something else was keeping him from being pulled out.

“We just removed each layer of metal that was trapping him. We had to actually cut away some of the housing from the cab.”

Rescuers used a tractor to stabilize the overturned truck while they worked. “He was conscious and very much of a trouper,” Baker said.

Hospital officials said Dominicak was fortunate considering what had happened.

“He has no broken bones, he’s up and talking and he doesn’t seem to be in shock,” hospital spokeswoman Erin Kaylor said.

“At this point, it looks good; he seems fine.”

Lisa Telles, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which is building the toll road, said the accident did not halt construction.