Serious collision in Colton
0 Comments Published by Pioneer Staff on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 2:54 PM.
By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer
Bad weather conditions, possibly compounded by a lack of seatbelts, made for a serious crash on Highway 211 in Colton this morning. A 15-year-old Canby girl and her mother, both seriously injured, remain in critical condition at OHSU.
According to local officials, Norma Martinez Sanchez, 51, of Canby, was driving north towards Estacada for work at about 5:40 a.m. when she lost control of the vehicle, a 1994 Ford Escort station wagon while rounding a bend on the highway near Bonney Road.
“The station wagon hit a ditch in the oncoming lane, then bounced out of the ditch into the oncoming lane and hit a pickup on the passenger side,” Colton Fire Department chief Gary Anderson said.
The 2002 Dodge 2500 pickup truck, a commercial vehicle owned by a construction company, struck the Ford directly in the passenger side. Driver Charles T. Czajkowski, 57, from Estacada was uninjured.
"He was out helping direct traffic when I got there," Anderson said.
The two occupants of the station wagon were both critically injured and rushed to OHSU by ambulance. Vasquez was unconscious and barely breathing when the first rescue personnel arrived on scene.
“They should have been LifeFlighted,” Anderson said, but weather conditions prevented the LifeFlight helicopters from being called to the scene.
The situation was so serious that both ambulances had to pick up additional paramedics from Clackamas County Fire District #1 in Oregon City to work on the patients en route to the hospital. One ambulance also had to stop at Willamette Falls Hospital in Oregon City for assistance in opening the patient’s airway before proceeding to OHSU.
“Twice CCFD engines rolled up and gave us a paramedic,” Molalla Fire Department firefighter Denise Everhart said. “It was a heavy call.”
Anderson said that (driver) took the turn too quickly for the road conditions, which were slick. However, a lack of seatbelts may have created a far more severe situation. An Oregon State Police release stated that at least the station wagon's passenger, 15-year-old Pamela Vasquez, was wearing safety restraints, but Anderson was dubious.
"We saw no evidence that there was seatbelt usage on the daughter," he said.
Speaking in Spanish through passersby who stopped to translate for the emergency workers, Martinez Sanchez told the paramedics that Vasquez had been wearing a seat belt and that she had moved it.
"But we didn't see any red marks, or any of the indications you would expect to see if she was wearing a seat belt," Anderson said.
As of press time, the two patients remained in the intensive care unit at OHSU.
Molalla Pioneer
Bad weather conditions, possibly compounded by a lack of seatbelts, made for a serious crash on Highway 211 in Colton this morning. A 15-year-old Canby girl and her mother, both seriously injured, remain in critical condition at OHSU.
According to local officials, Norma Martinez Sanchez, 51, of Canby, was driving north towards Estacada for work at about 5:40 a.m. when she lost control of the vehicle, a 1994 Ford Escort station wagon while rounding a bend on the highway near Bonney Road.
“The station wagon hit a ditch in the oncoming lane, then bounced out of the ditch into the oncoming lane and hit a pickup on the passenger side,” Colton Fire Department chief Gary Anderson said.
The 2002 Dodge 2500 pickup truck, a commercial vehicle owned by a construction company, struck the Ford directly in the passenger side. Driver Charles T. Czajkowski, 57, from Estacada was uninjured.
"He was out helping direct traffic when I got there," Anderson said.
The two occupants of the station wagon were both critically injured and rushed to OHSU by ambulance. Vasquez was unconscious and barely breathing when the first rescue personnel arrived on scene.
“They should have been LifeFlighted,” Anderson said, but weather conditions prevented the LifeFlight helicopters from being called to the scene.
The situation was so serious that both ambulances had to pick up additional paramedics from Clackamas County Fire District #1 in Oregon City to work on the patients en route to the hospital. One ambulance also had to stop at Willamette Falls Hospital in Oregon City for assistance in opening the patient’s airway before proceeding to OHSU.
“Twice CCFD engines rolled up and gave us a paramedic,” Molalla Fire Department firefighter Denise Everhart said. “It was a heavy call.”
Anderson said that (driver) took the turn too quickly for the road conditions, which were slick. However, a lack of seatbelts may have created a far more severe situation. An Oregon State Police release stated that at least the station wagon's passenger, 15-year-old Pamela Vasquez, was wearing safety restraints, but Anderson was dubious.
"We saw no evidence that there was seatbelt usage on the daughter," he said.
Speaking in Spanish through passersby who stopped to translate for the emergency workers, Martinez Sanchez told the paramedics that Vasquez had been wearing a seat belt and that she had moved it.
"But we didn't see any red marks, or any of the indications you would expect to see if she was wearing a seat belt," Anderson said.
As of press time, the two patients remained in the intensive care unit at OHSU.
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