By Andrea Woodhouse
Daily Breeze
Copyright © 2007 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — A Manhattan Beach Fire Department ambulance rushing a patient to the hospital slammed into a pulled-over car Wednesday morning, injuring a paramedic and two other people, officials said.
The ambulance, heading east on Rosecrans Avenue with its lights blazing and sirens blaring around 10 a.m., hit the maroon Chevrolet Cavalier after swerving to avoid another car that had turned in front of the rescue vehicle, said Investigator Dan Morrison of the California Highway Patrol, which is handling the accident.
A female driver headed west on Rosecrans turned left onto Pacific Avenue when she had a green arrow, not noticing the approaching ambulance, he said.
Upon hearing the sirens, the driver stopped in the intersection, forcing the ambulance to swerve to avoid hitting her car, Morrison said.
Meanwhile, traffic moving east pulled over to accommodate the ambulance, and the emergency vehicle hit the back left side of the pulled-over Cavalier, forcing it about 50 feet forward into a house’s planter, he said.
The vehicle also knocked over a traffic sign just east of Pacific Avenue, across the street from the Chevron refinery, Morrison said.
Hermosa Beach Fire Department paramedics took the patient, who was suffering a heart attack, to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, where she was in stable condition, Morrison said.
Jaws of life were used to rescue the Cavalier’s male driver and a passenger in the back seat. They were also taken to Little Company of Mary with moderate injuries, each complaining of abrasions, as well as back and neck pain, Morrison said. A 92-year-old female passenger in the front seat was uninjured, Morrison said. The victims’ names were not available.
A medic who was riding in the back of the ambulance with the patient was also taken to the hospital for treatment, but would likely return to work today, said Manhattan Beach fire Battalion Chief Frank Chiella.
Traffic was closed on a chunk of Rosecrans for nearly five hours Wednesday as officers investigated the accident.
California Highway Patrol will handle the investigation to avoid creating a conflict of interest if Manhattan Beach police were to analyze an accident involving the city’s Fire Department, said Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Bryan Klatt.