Global Courant 2023-05-03 22:16:42
A minibus drove through an apartment building in Santa Ana late Monday, trapping a woman under the vehicle and injuring at least one other person, authorities said.
Fire and police officials responded to the Vista Del Rio apartment complex on West Memory Lane just after 10:15 p.m. Monday and found the van almost completely through the wall of the apartment and the woman pinned under the vehicle, according to a press release from the Santa Ana Police Department. The driver of the van has not been found.
“It was a concerted effort to make sure the vehicle could be lifted and moved safely to extricate the patient,” Orange County Fire Chief Sean Doran said Monday night, according to OnSceneTV.
The woman was taken to a trauma center in critical condition, according to police The Orange County Fire Department. Another adult was also taken to hospital, the fire service said. It was not immediately clear how serious the second person’s injuries were.
FFs responded to a vehicle entering an apartment complex in the 1600 blk of W. Memory Lane @CityofSantaAna at 10:20 p.m. with reports of multiple casualties and a fire. FFs arrived and found 1 adult pt trapped in the unit with smoke but no fire. FF freed the pt that >> pic.twitter.com/AN0OUAMHMS
— OCFA PIO (@OCFireAuthority) May 2, 2023
The driver and any occupants of the van were no longer at the scene when officers arrived, and officials are investigating the accident as a hit-and-run, police said.
Investigators said the van crossed the building’s parking lot and hit multiple other solid objects before crashing through the first-floor apartment.
The Santa Ana Police Department asked anyone with information about this accident to call the agency’s traffic department at (714) 245-8200.