Accident traps woman in car

Tania Chatila

A woman in her mid-70s had to be extracted from her car using the

jaws of life Wednesday afternoon after being hit by a cement mixer

truck.

The block of Broadway between Orange and Brand streets was closed

to traffic for more than two hours while the wreck was being cleared,

Glendale Police spokeswoman Sherri Servillo said. The woman, a Los

Angeles resident, was struck by a McNeilus Inc. truck as she stood in

the open drivers’ side door of her black Mazda Protege just before 2

p.m., Servillo said.

The truck apparently side-swiped the woman and her car, trapping

her in between the two vehicles.

Lifeguards with Glendale Parks and Recreation aquatics program saw

the wreck from their table in Islands restaurant.

“I saw it and ran out and called 911,” Sunland resident Ryan

Hairapetian said. “We just tried to control traffic, but 911 got here

really quick.”

Hairapetian and three other aquatics program lifeguards ran out to

control traffic around the wreck, and to check on the victim.

“I definitely switched into lifeguard mode,” Chris Leslie said. “I

just saw the truck hitting the car and covering the view of the small

car, and I ran outside. We just made sure she was conscious and

alert.”

Nareh Abrahamian and Erna Torosyan were the two other witnesses

from the aquatics program who helped out. “Everyone was saying ‘call

911,’ but no one was calling,” said Abrahamian, who also called the

woman’s husband.

The woman was taken to County-USC Medical Center to be treated for

a compound fracture to her right leg.