Five car pileup injures three on highway

Andrew Edwards

Drivers and a bicyclist escaped without major injuries after a pileup

that stopped traffic in South Laguna on Monday.

All four of the fire department’s engines were sent to the

accident, which occurred near the intersection of South Coast Highway

and 10th Avenue. The crash was reported at about 4:23 p.m.

Emergency workers took a bicyclist, Jeff Gray of Andover, Maryland

and Laguna Beach resident William Nunn to Mission Hospital. A third

patient, Oceanside resident Ryan Howe was taken by a private

ambulance to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center.

“There’s no severe injuries,” traffic Sgt. Jason Kravetz said.

Both Gray and Nunn have been released from the hospital,

spokeswoman Karen Prestia said.

The collision involved five vehicles in addition to the bicycle. A

Lexus was driven by Nunn and a Ford Expedition was driven by Howe, a

Chevy Trailblazer, driven by Las Vegas resident Anthony Lane, a dump

truck driven by San Juan Capistrano resident Dale Kosinski, and a

Ford F150 pickup truck.

Kravetz described the driver of the pickup truck, 38-year-old

Laguna Beach resident Ignacio Salgado, as “the guy that caused it.”

Salgado was cited for failing to yield to oncoming traffic.

An eyewitness described the accident as a series of two crashes.

In the first impact, the driver of the pickup truck pulled out onto

the highway from Point Place, and collided with the Ford as it was

traveling south on the highway, Richard Brown said.

“He got hit in the back and he careened into the oncoming cars,”

he said.

Brown said he did not see the subsequent crash, which involved the

bicyclist and the other vehicles, because his view was blocked by a

dump truck on the side of South Coast Highway.

Before emergency crews arrived, Brown said other witnesses aided

the injured bicyclist.

“He was hurt, some pedestrians came out and laid him down on the

ground,” Brown said.

One of the people who assisted the bicyclist was contractor Mike

Tompkins. Tompkins said he was working in the neighborhood uphill

from the crash when he heard the sound of the vehicles slamming into

each other.

There was an “enormous impact sound. Loud. Frightening,” he said.

After running down to the highway, Tompkins helped to take off

Gray’s backpack, got him on the ground and checked to see if he was

bleeding.

“Everything was in place and he wasn’t leaking any blood,”

Tompkins said.

Judging from the reactions of emergency personnel, Tompkins said

he got the impression the Andover man was the most seriously injured

person in the accident.

Firefighters used the jaws of life to rescue two people stuck in

the truck.

“Both the occupants in there were trapped, but they weren’t hurt,”

Battalion Chief Mark Baker said.

Emergency crews took about 20 minutes to rescue Nunn, Brown said.

When he saw Nunn out of his Lexus, he was being carried on a

stretcher with an oxygen mask on.

Laguna crews were assisted by the Orange County Fire Authority.

Orange County and Newport Beach covered Laguna fire stations while

city crews worked at the crash, Baker said.

South Coast Highway was shut down in both directions after the

accident, and was gradually opened one lane at a time, he said.

The investigation on the accident is not yet finalized.