Patrol Car Burns After Crash

IRVINE —  A California Highway Patrol officer escaped serious injury early Wednesday when a crash ruptured the gas tank of her patrol car and set off a fiery blast on the San Diego Freeway. Three other people involved in the accident were unhurt.

The collision and subsequent fire closed the freeway near Culver Drive for half an hour and snarled traffic for miles. CHP Officer Carey Reynolds, whose cruiser was destroyed, suffered cuts to her left leg and shoulder.

“I guess it’s probably not a great way to start off at the CHP,” said Reynolds, who joined the highway patrol last April. “But I am just glad we came out OK.”

The trouble started about 7 a.m. after Reynolds stopped to assist a stranded driver in the freeway median.

Reynolds said the stranded motorist, Ana Garcia, needed her car to be towed. The officer, Garcia and a tow truck driver made their way with their vehicles to the freeway’s right shoulder.

As Reynolds prepared to leave, a motorist smashed into her patrol car from behind with such force that the air bag released, the officer said.

Kim Sang Carroll, a 23-year-old Irvine resident, had been preparing to stop his Mercury Cougar on the shoulder, but told officers he was blinded by the sun and did not see the CHP cruiser or the tow truck, according to the CHP.

The impact ruptured the patrol car’s gas tank and knocked the car into the tow truck and Garcia’s attached car, according to the CHP.

Reynolds called for help on her radio, then got out of her car and checked on tow truck driver Alonso Barrios and Garcia, who were not injured. As she turned back to the cruiser, she noticed flames shooting out of the back and saw Carroll still sitting in the driver’s seat of his Mercury. Barrios and Reynolds then ran to get Carroll, who was apparently in shock, and all made their way to a grassy patch away from the burning vehicles. As they stood on the grass, they and other drivers on the freeway watched the fire engulf the patrol car.

With flames shooting out of the roof, windshield and side windows of the patrol car, nine rounds of ammunition inside the cruiser exploded into the air, snapping with intensity, according to the CHP.

“It was like bullets were going off,” said Barrios, who attempted to direct motorists away from the freeway until other CHP officers arrived. “I just wanted to get out of the way and make sure no one got hurt. Everything just happened so quickly.”

In addition to destroying Reynolds’ cruiser, the fire seriously damaged Carroll’s and Garcia’s cars.

“In my 22 years on the Highway Patrol, I have never seen a [Ford] Crown Victoria catch fire like that,” investigating CHP Officer Rob Hanson said of the patrol car. “A lot of the patrol cars get hit out there but this impact just caused a lot of damage beneath the car.”

By 7:15 a.m., other CHP officers arrived and began motioning drivers to the far lanes, away from the burning car. They eventually closed the freeway and it remained shut for about 30 minutes.

Carroll was not cited, and the accident is under investigation, according to CHP officials.