2 Seriously Injured in Car-Van Accident

Two Ventura residents were in serious condition after a three-car accident midday Wednesday that closed a portion of Telegraph Road for about an hour.

Matthew Haffner, 32, was driving through the intersection of Kimball and Telegraph roads shortly after noon when his car was broadsided by a van driven by 18-year-old Kelly Gibson, authorities said.

The vehicles then spun into a pickup truck driven by 39-year-old Edward Rodriguez of Oxnard.

Rodriguez was not injured in the accident, but both Haffner and Gibson sustained major injuries and were listed in serious condition at Ventura County Medical Center.

Sally Williams, a county employee who was heading home for lunch, said she saw the accident while waiting at the red light at the intersection.

“The light had just turned red and I saw [Gibson] go past me,” Williams said. “I remember thinking, ‘Hey, she’s running the red light.’ ”

The white van, which had a logo for a business called Balloon Magic in Ventura, got most of the way through the intersection before slamming into Haffner’s car, Williams said.

“It happened so fast, but I saw her just get thrown right out the passenger window of the van,” she said. “It was pretty frightening. I couldn’t drive after that. I just parked my car.”

Firefighters found Gibson lying on the road next to her vehicle and Haffner trapped inside his car.

It took them about 15 minutes to cut him out of the mangled wreckage, said Mike Lavery, a battalion chief with the Ventura Fire Department.

“They both had pretty traumatic injuries,” Lavery said. “This was a serious accident.”