Driver Arrested After Crash Injures Passenger
A 22-year-old man was critically injured when the car he was riding in slammed into a tree Saturday afternoon on Pacific Coast Highway in Oxnard, and the man driving the car was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, authorities said.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the crash occurred about 3:55 p.m. just north of the Pleasant Valley Road onramp. The driver apparently entered the highway at a high rate of speed and lost control of the car when it veered off the road into the center divider, authorities said.
The car spun around and the passenger side slammed into a eucalyptus tree.
The driver was out of the car and walking around when personnel from the Oxnard Fire Department arrived, said Ralph Revelez, the Fire Department’s public information officer. “The driver did not ask for any help,” Revelez said.
Firefighters had to pull the passenger out of the car through the driver’s door, and he was taken by Ventura County Sheriff’s Department helicopter to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, where he was listed in critical condition Saturday night.
Steve Carroll, a paramedic supervisor with Gold Coast Ambulance, said the man had massive head, chest and abdominal injuries.
The CHP’s special crash investigation team was on the scene Saturday evening and the northbound lanes of the highway were closed until about 8 p.m.
The CHP would not release the names of the victim or the driver.
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