Driver critically injured in crash early Sunday in Seal Beach

Seal Beach police are investigating a solo vehicle crash that took place early Sunday morning, causing two people to be transported to area trauma centers and shutting down a portion of the Pacific Coast Highway for several hours, officials reported.

Lt. Nick Nicholas said a call came in at 4 a.m. regarding a black Chevrolet Suburban that had collided with a tree in the center median of Pacific Coast Highway near Seal Beach Boulevard. No other vehicles are believed to have been involved in the incident.

“Skid marks from the tires led us to believe the car was driving northbound on PCH when it collided with the tree,” Nicholas said on Monday, indicating that although the highway runs east-to-west in that part of town, agencies use its state-designated north-south direction.

Seal Beach Police Department early Sunday at the scene of a crash on PCH near Seal Beach Boulevard.

(Courtesy of Seal Beach Police Department)

Orange County Fire Authority crews responded to the scene, where the driver appeared to be pinned inside the vehicle, spokesman Capt. Sean Doran confirmed Monday. The passenger, described as an adult man, was able to pull himself from the wreckage before responders arrived.

The driver, whose identity was not being released to the public, was extricated from the vehicle by firefighters equipped with hand tools, Doran said.

“There was significant damage to the car, pinning the driver to the driver’s seat,” he added. “That person was in critical condition. They were both transported as trauma patients to local hospitals.”

Fire crews extricate a motorist from a vehicle that crashed into a tree early Sunday on PCH near Seal Beach Boulevard.

(Courtesy of Orange County Fire Authority)

Nicholas said the cause of the crash is being investigated by a Serious Traffic Accident Response (STAR) team, a regional coalition of local traffic investigators from Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Cypress, La Palma and Westminster that reviews incidents of a serious nature.

The STAR team often employs drones and creates diagrams of the scene to determine how a collision occurred. That work caused a portion of the highway to be closed to traffic from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. The team will also review data from the vehicle itself, according to Nicholas.

“We have a system where they can essentially access the ‘black box’ of the vehicle,” he said Monday. “We can go back and track the vehicle’s movements in the moment before the incident occurred.”

As of Monday it was unknown whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash. The driver, who was injured too seriously to provide information to officers, was scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday.

Nicholas said investigators are in the process of authorizing search warrants to access medical records that may determine whether any intoxicants were found in the driver’s body. Anyone who may have information is asked to contact traffic investigator Hector Mercado at (562) 799-4100, ext. 1634 or hmercado@sealbeachca.gov.

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