Girls Seriously Injured After Crash Into Truck

Two sisters, ages 5 and 6, were seriously injured Tuesday morning when a minivan driven by their mother crashed into a parked semitrailer on Woodman Avenue, according to police.

The accident happened about 7:30 a.m. when Martha Saucedo, driving a Plymouth Voyager minivan southbound on Woodman near Nordhoff Street, veered out of her lane and into the back of the semitrailer, LAPD Officer Michael Fuller said. The semitrailer was unoccupied and legally parked on the side of the avenue, Fuller said.

The collision badly wounded Saucedo’s daughters and left part of the Voyager’s front end crumpled underneath the semitrailer, he said.

Los Angeles Fire Department emergency units transported the children and their mother by helicopter to the Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles. The 6-year-old, initially listed in critical condition with a skull fracture and trauma to the brain, was later upgraded to serious condition.

She was awake and conscious Tuesday afternoon, said hospital spokesman Steve Rutledge. “She’s crying and screaming, which in this case, we take to be a good thing,” he said.

Her 5-year-old sister received stitches for a severe cut across the forehead and remained in the hospital for observation Tuesday afternoon, Rutledge said.

Neither the hospital nor the police would release the girls’ names.

Fuller said Saucedo of Mission Hills sustained minor injuries and was not hospitalized.

He said Saucedo was wearing a seat belt, but her daughters were not.