Emergency responders used the Jaws of Life to rescue two severely injured family members from an overturned blue Honda Accord on Hecker Pass Road about a mile from Pole Line Road on Sunday morning.
Marcella Lopez, 19, was taken to a Santa Clara medical center with head trauma and internal injuries. Martha Lopez, 21, endured lacerations on the face, and neck pain. It was a single-vehicle accident, and no other other injuries were reported, according to a dispatcher at the California Highway Patrol.
Following a rainy weekend, the road was still wet Sunday about 11 a.m. when the driver of the Honda Accord, Jose Martinez, 26, was tailgating and flashing his lights at a slower vehicle in front of him.
The driver of the slower vehicle pulled over to let him pass, and Martinez sped past the slower vehicle and drove off the road, flipping over into the ravine, according to a witness who pulled over to help, Rob Ellis, 48, of San Martin. He did not witness the accident first-hand but was the second person to stop along the twisting, two-lane road to help.
Martinez and the fourth occupant of the car, a baby named Victoria Leon, endured no injuries, according to Ellis.
“To look at that wreckage and think that anyone could live from it was crazy,” Ellis said.
Check back for more details as they become available.
