MORGAN HILL
– A pregnant woman was seriously injured Thursday afternoon when
a 75-year-old woman drove her Honda into the Morgan Hill Post
Office, crushing a lobby wall and sending rescue crews scurrying to
make sure mother and child would survive.
MORGAN HILL – A pregnant woman was seriously injured Thursday afternoon when a 75-year-old woman drove her Honda into the Morgan Hill Post Office, crushing a lobby wall and sending rescue crews scurrying to make sure mother and child would survive.
Sabrina Dominguez’s legs were injured and “possibly broken,” Morgan Hill Police Lt. Joe Sampson said at the post office on Monterey Road. Dominguez, 20, was taken by CALSTAR to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose where she later delivered her baby, a healthy little girl named Mia.
“She’s healthy, and she’s been healthy from the beginning of my pregnancy,” Dominguez said from her hospital bed this morning. “I’m a little tired, but I’m doing OK.”
Dominguez gave birth to her daughter naturally, although doctors considered performing a Caesarian section. It was Dominguez’s first childbirth.
It is still unclear if Dominguez’s labor was triggered by the accident. Two separate ultrasounds done several weeks ago produced two different due dates – Feb. 22 and March 5. Doctors took x-rays of Dominguez’s legs Friday morning, but results were not returned before press time.
“I think I have one leg broken (her left) and two broken toes (on her right foot),” Dominguez said.
No other persons were injured in the incident, police said.
The 2:40 p.m. accident occurred as Eula Chipman, of Morgan Hill, was attempting to park the Honda in front of the post office, Sampson said, and apparently she stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake.
There were several dozen customers and employees in the facility’s front service areas when the accident occurred, said Karen Bamberg, supervisor of customer services.
“We were extremely lucky. Often there are children running back and forth in that area,” Bamberg said. “It could have been much worse.”
Dominguez was in front of a stamp vending machine when the auto came hurtling through the heavily glassed front of the building.
Bamberg said she heard the crash, followed by alarms from the stamp vending machine.
“I ran up and saw the front half of the car in the center of the office,” Bamberg added. “I called 911, and paramedics, police and fire were here almost immediately.”
Dominguez recalls the accident vividly.
“I was stepping to my left and all of the sudden I felt glass in my face and in my hair. I heard a bang and the car crushed my legs,” Dominguez said. “My shoes went flying off and after the car pinned me it kind of bounced back about two feet.
Six MHPD vehicles with eight officers responded, Sampson said. They were just a short distance away, returning from SWAT training.
Vicki Pappas, bulk-mail clerk, was at the back of the facility when the crash occurred.
“I was looking in that direction, heard the noise and saw the car. The next thing I saw was the young lady go flying,” recalled Pappas, a Gilroy resident who retires today after 26 years on the job. “At first, I thought she had gone through the windshield.”
Dominguez says her first thought was about her 10-year-old nephew who had been waiting for her outside.
“I wanted to let him know I was all right,” Dominguez said.
But quickly she realized she could not walk very far.
“I knew then my legs got hurt,” Dominguez said.
That’s also when Dominguez assessed her stomach and figured the baby had gotten through the ordeal OK.
The sound of an auto crashing into the post office is not new for Pappas. She said it has happened three times, including once earlier this year.
Postal Clerk Debbie Aquino was with a customer when the accident occurred.
“I had my head down writing on a piece of mail. I jerked my head up when I heard the noise. The car was coming straight in. I saw smoke and the tires spinning,” Aquino said.
Dominguez had driven from the Morgan Hill home of her older sister, Angelique Ambriz, to mail a letter. Waiting for her in the car were Joshua Ambriz, 11, and a neighbor girl.
“I heard a big crash and saw the car in the window. I ran inside and saw my aunt on the floor,” Joshua told his mother.
Sampson said a police investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Workers and customers were evacuated through the rear of the damaged building without incident, Sampson said.
The post office was closed for the remainder of the day Thursday. Crews were busy into the night at the facility at 16600 Monterey Road cleaning up broken glass, carting away debris and boarding up windows.
The post office was expected to be fully open for business this morning, said Postmaster Darrell Stoke.
“We’ll start the day with having counseling available for any of our employees who may need it,” Stoke said.
No cost estimate of the damage was available by press time.
Staff writer Eric Leins contributed to this report.
