CHP Officer, 4 Others Hurt in Freeway Accident

A California Highway Patrol officer and four other people were injured--two seriously--when a car swerved across traffic lanes Thursday evening, hitting a stopped patrol car and another car as the officer was ticketing a driver on the shoulder of the San Diego Freeway in Westminster.

Officer Bonnie Blatt, 37, a 10-year veteran of the CHP, was treated for bruises on her knees suffered when she was pushed into a ditch, CHP spokesman Lyle Whitten said.

Both the driver being ticketed, Ronald Lawrence, 63, of Malibu, and the driver of the swerving car, Manuel Steven Heckerman, 23, of Bellflower, received only minor injuries and refused medical aid.

But both passengers in Heckerman’s 1968 Plymouth Fury were taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center with serious injuries, Whitten said.

Richard Way, 23, of Lakewood, who was in the front seat, suffered head trauma. And Brian Copper, 20, of Bellflower, who was pinned in the right rear seat, had to be extricated by firefighters. Copper suffered compound fractures of his right leg and ankle and also was believed to have major internal injuries, Whitten said.

According to Whitten, the incident occurred at 7:55 p.m. on the southbound shoulder of the freeway just south of Beach Boulevard, where Officer Blatt had pulled Lawrence over for speeding in the new car-pool lane. Lawrence was traveling alone in his late-model Lincoln Continental.

Blatt was waiting at the passenger side window for Lawrence to hand over his vehicle registration when Heckerman’s car swerved from the middle traffic lane and hit the back of her unoccupied patrol car, sending it into a ditch, Whitten said. Heckerman’s car then slammed into the Lincoln, knocking Blatt backward.