A 52-year-old female driver lost control of her car, crashed into an embankment on Hecker Pass Highway near Sprig Lake and immediately exited her 1998 Dodge Stratus that moments later burst into flames.
Laura Mendoza-Argueta, of San Jose, was traveling westbound on Hecker Pass early Thursday morning just west of Sprig Lake when she made an “unsafe turning movement,” according to Public Information Officer Erica Elias of the California Highway Patrol, which caused the single-car accident.
The car caught fire due to the impact. Mendoza-Argueta, who suffered a “severely swollen ankle” and complained of neck pain to the responding CHP officer, was transported by Santa Clara County EMS to San Jose Regional Medical Center.
The CHP noted that conditions were clear and it was daylight at 8:55 a.m. on a dry road when Mendoza-Argueta suddenly lost control of her car. Alcohol and drugs are not considered a factor, according to Elias, and Mendoza-Argueta was not arrested or charged.
The car was fully engulfed, so Cal Fire was dispatched to put out the blaze before the vehicle was towed away. CHP did not immediately know the rate of speed Mendoza-Argueta was traveling at when she lost control.
