Car hits, drags disabled woman

Marisa O’Neil

A 60-year-old Costa Mesa woman in a wheelchair was seriously injured

when a car struck her as she crossed an Eastside street Thursday

evening.

The woman was rolling her wheelchair north on Westminster Avenue,

crossing Broadway just before 6 p.m. when a burgundy sedan driven by

a 27-year-old Newport Beach man struck her, Costa Mesa Sgt. Bob

Durham said.

The man stopped his car when he realized what had happened.

But by then he had carried the woman some 80 to 100 feet on his

hood, Costa Mesa Fire Department Battalion Chief Keith Fujimoto said.

The woman, who has not been identified pending notification of her

relatives, suffered several injuries, including head trauma, Fujimoto

said.

She was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, he said.

She was in critical condition, but police were informed by

hospital officials shortly after 7 p.m. that her blood pressure was

improving, Costa Mesa Lt. Dave Andersen said late Thursday night.

She was wearing a yellow reflective vest, but her posture while

pushing the chair in darkness may have made it difficult to see the

vest, Fujimoto said.

The vest, a shoe and a battered wheelchair lay in the westbound

lane of Broadway as police investigated the accident.

Trauma-intervention counselors were brought in to talk to the man

who hit her, Fujimoto said.

The man was not cited in connection with the accident, Andersen

said.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil

@latimes.com.