Hospitalized Motorist Recalls Harrowing Plunge

The small piece of wood in the middle of Tujunga Avenue didn’t look very menacing to Alvina Esquivel, who was driving her GMC Suburban on the street Tuesday night. How much harm could it cause?

She swerved left to miss it, hit the brake and then swerved back to her right.

The next thing she knew, her vehicle was tumbling down a 100-foot embankment.

“All I remember then is not controlling it and going down the ravine,” said Esquivel, 31. “My heart just dropped.”

Esquivel said she only remembers calling out to her three children to hold on, and hearing their screams as the vehicle descended.

The dark green Suburban plunged into an old dumping pit before the vehicle came to rest on its roof. Esquivel felt broken glass in her mouth.

“When we landed, I didn’t think anyone was alive,” she said from her bed Wednesday at UCLA Medical Center. “I looked up and I couldn’t believe how far down we were.”

But, her children--Vanessa, 13, Briana, 9, and Eric, 5--were mostly unhurt, and they managed to wiggle their way free of the vehicle. Esquivel remained trapped inside, unable to move.

Vanessa set up lawn chairs, which were in the back of the vehicle, for her sister and brother, and then climbed up the embankment for help. She called the police, and a passing motorist stopped and offered assistance, Esquivel said.

Emergency personnel were called to the scene at 7 p.m. and spent about an hour freeing Esquivel and getting the family to the hospital, said Bob Collis, spokesman for Los Angeles Fire Department.

Vanessa and Briana were treated for minor abrasions and released Tuesday night, and Eric was released Wednesday afternoon.

Esquivel, who suffered a broken left shoulder, fractured pelvis and abrasions and bruising on her neck, was expected to be released today.

Collis said the injuries could have been much more severe had the Esquivels not been wearing seat belts.

“They probably would have been ejected if they weren’t belted in,” Collis said. “I’m sure there would have been fatalities.”

Esquivel said she always makes sure her family is buckled in before she starts the engine.

An avid watcher of real-life rescue television programs, she said she never expected to be involved in an accident like the ones she sees on TV.

“You see those kinds of things, but you never think it’s going to be you,” she said.