Rollover on freeway hospitalizes one man

Lolita Harper

Highway patrol officers are looking for the driver of a silver BMW

they say caused a rollover accident Friday morning on the north bound

Corona del Mar Freeway that left an Upland man in the trauma unit

with a serious head injury.

Bruce Dwight Lindsey was transported to Western Medical Center for

treatment of a large gash in the back of his head after his black

Chevrolet Suburban rolled several times before stopping in the far

right lane between the Jamboree Road and Birch Street exits,

California Highway Patrol Officer Ken Yoon.

Yoon said that the driver of the silver BMW made an unsafe lane

change and hit a silver Saturn at about 10 a.m. Friday. The Saturn

struck the Suburban, which veered to the right, he said. Lindsey, 51,

tried to regain control by “counter-steering” and rolled his truck,

Yoon said.

The driver of the Saturn, Dane Cover of Newport Beach, stopped on

the shoulder after the accident but the driver of the BMW took off.

Traffic was backed up for miles on the Corona del Mar Freeway

while emergency response teams attended to the accident. Rescue crews

cut Lindsey out of his badly damaged vehicle. A SigAlert was issued

from 10:10 to 11:43 a.m. and cars lined the twisting highway past

where it becomes the San Joaquin Hills toll road, all the way to the

Aliso Creek Road exit.

The black Suburban was badly damaged, with a shattered windshield

and ruptured tires. The roof of the vehicle was caved in and the

driver-side passenger seat was broken in half. Officials swept broken

glass, pieces of metal and stray papers from the car out of the far

right lanes.

Officials described the BMW as a silver, four-door, late 1990s

model. Anyone with information about the collision is asked to call

investigating officer P. Pines at the Santa Ana California Highway

Patrol office at (714) 567-6000.

* LOLITA HARPER is the community forum editor. She also writes

columns Wednesdays and Fridays. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275

or by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.