Pickup Driver Survives Big-Rig Collision
Rescuers called a 45-year-old Fontana man lucky to be alive after a tractor-trailer ran over his pickup truck Tuesday, crushing the front end and cab.
About 10:15 a.m., Philip Larsen was driving south on Jamboree Road at the same time the tractor-trailer was heading west on Alton Parkway, police said.
One of the two drivers ran a red light at the crossing, and the trucks collided, police said.
The Toyota lodged underneath the trailer until the semi’s back wheels spun over it, shooting the smaller truck out the rear of the trailer, Police Sgt. Tom Little said.
The Toyota then slammed into a light pole, where firefighters spent an hour cutting Larsen from the wreckage, Little said.
He was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana with a broken pelvis, punctured lung and other injuries, police said.
He was in guarded but stable condition late Tuesday and is expected to survive, police said.
“He was definitely being watched over,” Little said.
The tractor-trailer driver was unhurt and his rig received minor damage. The crash remains under investigation.
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