JWA car collision injures 2 deputies
Deepa Bharath
JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT -- A freak chain-reaction car accident Tuesday
morning injured two sheriff’s deputies as they searched cars, officials
said.
The pair were trapped between three cars during the inspections that
became routine in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said
Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. One
of the deputies suffered several broken bones in both his legs; the other
escaped with cuts and bruises, he said.
Sammy Black, a 22-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, is
undergoing treatment at Western Medical Center in Anaheim for multiple
fractures to his legs, Amormino said.
Christopher Hancock, who has been with the department two years, was
taken to the same hospital but was released Tuesday.
Amormino said the 9:30 a.m. incident began when George Mack, 80, who
was driving through the rental car return area on the lower-level parking
structure, stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake.
The Buick Century that Mack, of Salem, Mass., drove then hit Black,
who was inspecting the trunk of a Ford Escort, Amormino said. The impact
shattered Black’s legs and caused him to be dragged 10 feet by the
Escort, Amormino said.
The Escort then hit a Chevy Lumina that Hancock was searching,
sandwiching Hancock between the two cars.
The incident is being treated as an accident, Amormino said. The
California Highway Patrol is investigating the incident, which is a
normal procedure, he said.
Like many sheriff’s deputies, both were on special assignment at JWA
because of the heightened security at the airport, Amormino said.
He said security was not additionally increased after the FBI issued
an alert Monday that warned of an imminent terrorist attack.
“We are very comfortable with the level of security we have now,”
Amormino said.
Airport operations were not affected because of the incidents,
spokeswoman Ann McCarley said.
“We had a tie-up on the roadway in the lower level because of the
investigation,” she said.
The entrance to the rental car return area was also moved farther
south because of the ongoing investigation, McCarley said.
Several sheriff’s deputies directed traffic after the incident to help
drivers find their way through the barricades and police cars.
McCarley said the incident did not cause alarm or fear of a terrorist
threat among airport staff.
“We did not believe this was related to any terrorist activity,” she
said. “We don’t believe there was any ill intent here.”
* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at
(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .
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