A Close Call : North Hills Man May Owe His Life to Cellular Phone in His Wrecked Car

Julius and Bennie Espina of North Hills bought a cellular portable phone about three months ago for their small home-care nursing business.

Bennie Espina initially put the phone in her purse, but three weeks ago the couple placed it in their car for use in case of roadside emergencies.

On Tuesday morning, that move may have saved Julius Espina’s life.

After losing control of his car and plunging 300 feet into a ravine off of Kanan Dume Road north of Malibu, Espina was able to call his wife to summon help. She called sheriff’s deputies, who, with the help of a helicopter, were able to spot Espina within an hour and airlift him to a nearby hospital.

His injuries were limited to a sprained ankle and bruises.

“Having the phone definitely saved his life,” said Deputy Tom McGee, one of the first officers to arrive at the scene. “Without it, no one would know he was there.”

California Highway Patrol Officer Michael Spain, who took over investigation of the crash from sheriff deputies, said that without the phone call to his wife, it would have been difficult to find Espina because there were no visible signs of an accident and the area is covered with heavy brush.

“There were no skid marks on the street, nothing that stood out to indicate an accident,” Spain said. “Looks like he was a pretty lucky guy that he was found as quickly as he was.”

Espina was traveling south about 8:30 a.m. at just below the posted 50 m.p.h. speed limit on Kanan Dume Road to pick up his wife. He was rounding a bend in the road, when he apparently hit a road marker, which flattened his right front tire.

He lost control of the car and it crossed the two-lane highway and rolled over the side of the road and into a ravine.

He said later that as he sat motionless in his car, which was resting on its side, he spotted the cellular phone just outside the car.

Although he was in great pain and thought his legs were broken, he pulled himself out of the car and grabbed the phone. His first instinct was to call his wife rather than 911.

He told her of the accident, but said he did not know exactly where he was off Kanan Dume Road. She immediately called sheriff’s deputies and then rushed to the road to search for him herself.

Deputies called in a helicopter, and within an hour Espina’s battered car was spotted from the air.

“I thought I was dead,” Espina said as he waited to be discharged from Westlake Medical Center.

“This is like a second life for me.”