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 .