Camarillo area drivers spent hours at a near standstill on Highway 101 following a semi crash that injured two people on November 9. The Camarillo truck accident came a day after one woman was killed and three people injured in a truck crash near Cuesta College. Earlier this month, a woman was killed in Emeryville after being struck by a big rig. This continuation of a series of truck accidents across California has resulted in numerous fatalities and injuries.
Big Rig Overturns in Camarillo Truck Accident, Sending Two to Hospital
November 10, 2016
Shortly after 5:00 a.m. on November 9, a northbound semi-truck traveling between the Del Norte Boulevard and Central Avenue exits in Camarillo suddenly veered to the right, eventually hitting a metal guard rail and overturning onto its right side. The driver of the big rig and his sole passenger were both taken to the hospital with injuries that the California Highway Patrol identified as “major.” It’s not clear what caused the 22-year-old Los Angeles driver in the Camarillo truck accident to abruptly veer to the right, and officials say those reasons are “still under investigation.”
After colliding with the guard rail, the cab of the upturned semi was left hanging above a waterway 25 feet below the highway, and both driver and passenger were stuck within the wreckage. Firefighters employed a variety of tools and methods to free the two men from the big rig and were ultimately able to rescue both, even though, according to Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Mike Lindbery, the driver had “several body parts pinned.” Lindberg added that it was “incredible to think that no one died.”
Following the Camarillo truck accident, California Highway Patrol shut down all but one lane on the northbound side of the highway, pushing drivers onto service roads and creating widespread traffic for commuters throughout the day. The highway would not fully reopen until 4:14 p.m.
Box Truck Crash Near Cuesta College Kills Frenchwoman, Injures Three Others
November 9, 2016
A day prior to the Camarillo truck accident, a driver operating a box truck in the southbound lane of Highway 1 near Cuesta College did not stop for two vehicles waiting at a red light in front of him. The truck ultimately pushed one of the vehicles through the intersection and off the road.
The box truck accident occurred at about 2:25 p.m. by the Highway 1 and Hollister Avenue intersection. Of the two cars stopped at the red light, the first had only one occupant, Joanna Brooke, a Los Osos resident. The second vehicle—a Chevy Cruz—contained a driver and passenger, both residents of France. The box truck was operated by a 52-year-old Nipomo resident.
During the crash, Bernadette Ettcheverry, the passenger in the Cruze, sustained blunt force trauma head injuries that would ultimately prove fatal. The driver of the Cruze suffered a minor laceration to the back of the head, and Brooke suffered minor injuries to her neck and leg. The driver of the box truck suffered only abrasions.
California Highway Patrol officials do not yet know why the box truck driver did not stop for the vehicles at the red light in front of him but are investigating the Cuesta College crash.
Woman Struck and Killed by Semi Truck in Emeryville
November 1, 2016
As she crossed the street in an Emeryville crosswalk, 58-year-old Mahin Ashki was hit by a semi-truck, knocked down and pulled under the vehicle. She was taken to Highland Hospital where she would eventually die from her injuries.
Ashki was crossing using the crosswalk at the intersection of Powell Street and Christie Avenue at about 9:24 a.m. on Tuesday, November 1, when the big rig, which was making a right turn, struck her. The semi-truck driver called the police, who questioned and released him pending further investigation.
Famous for fighting against deportation to her native country of Iran, Ashki was written about by the Associated Press in 2001 for her battle to stay in America, a country she thought of as home and the place she gave birth to her two daughters. Ashki is survived by her daughters and husband, and police are asking anyone with information on the semi-truck accident to call 510-596-3700.
