The Associated Press
via Knight-Ridder — San Jose Mercury News (California)
CHINO, Calif. — A Los Angeles County paramedic squad and passenger vehicle collided, injuring three people, including one critically, authorities said. No paramedics were injured.
Three other cars - a Honda Rodeo, a Dodge Magnum and a Saturn sedan - also became entangled in the crash late Friday, said Chino Valley Fire District spokesman Ryan Dacko.
The collision is still under investigation and it is not clear which driver was at fault, said Michelle Van Der Linden, spokeswoman for the city of Chino.
The paramedic squad was traveling with its lights and sirens on when the crash happened, Van Der Linden said. The ambulance was transporting a patient with seizure symptoms to Chino Valley Medical Center, she said.
Van Der Linden didn’t know how the Honda became involved, but the vehicle was totaled.
“They had to use the Jaws of Life to get him out,” Van Der Linden said of the driver of the Honda.
He was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton suffering from head trauma and abdomen pain, she said. It was not immediately clear if the driver, whose name was not immediately available, would survive his injuries, Dacko said.
A passenger in the Honda was taken to Chino Valley Medical Center with moderate to minor injuries, Dacko said.
One other person also suffered moderate to minor injuries, authorities said. It was not immediately clear which of the five cars that person occupied at the time of the collision.