Wrong-way driver strikes two cars on Foothill

A westbound segment of Foothill Boulevard near Gould Avenue was briefly shut down at around 4 p.m. Tuesday after a wrong-way driver collided with two cars and ran over the sidewalk near La Cañada Tire Center.

According to a witness and another individual involved in the crash, the apparently elderly driver of the white Mercedes C220 sedan turned left from Gould into oncoming traffic on the wrong side of a traffic median. .

Continuing against traffic, the Mercedes scraped the front right fender of a black Volkswagen Jetta that was in the left lane, then smashed the front right fender of a silver Toyota Matrix in the right lane before ending up on the sidewalk.

Paramedics transported the unidentified driver of the Mercedes to Verdugo Hills Hospital. Her condition was not immediately known, but no one else involved was injured in the multi-car collision.

The wrong-way driver “had that glassed-over look,” said Jenny Sullivan, who was at La Cañada Tire Center when she heard the wreck and hurried to the driver’s aid. “It was like she was completely out of it. When we told her she was just in a car accident, the look on her face was, ‘I was?’”

A fire crew with the U.S. Forest Service was traveling eastbound on Foothill immediately after the accident and was first to respond. Capt. Steve Gonzalez said the crew found the wrong-way driver “a little bit dazed” following the wreck.

Los Angeles County fire fighters and Sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene shortly after.

The driver of the Volkswagen declined to give her name but said she stopped her vehicle to try to avoid hitting the Mercedes when she noticed its sudden approach.