Jul 20, 2008

Driver crashes into family car

Police: Woman had suspended license, warrant for arrest

By Banks Albach / Daily News Staff Writer

A woman with a past drunken driving conviction, a suspended license and a warrant for her arrest, crashed head-on into another car on Saturday, according to witnesses and police.

Witnesses said that the driver, Blanca Contreras, 21, was speeding and swerving as she ran a stop sign at Beech Street and attempted to pass a car on the 2100 block of Pulgas Avenue in East Palo Alto in her late model Pontiac GT.

An ice cream truck driver said he thought the two cars were racing, and that he saw Contreras's Pontiac plow head-on into an late-1980s Honda Accord, bounce into a parked Dodge Ram and skid to a stop in the middle of the street.

Emergency crews were on the scene at about 5:25 p.m. Contreras was pulled from her vehicle by several paramedics and firefighters, who were stabilizing her neck and head until she could be strapped into a steady position for transport. She was screaming and bleeding from her mouth as she was taken to an ambulance.

The family appeared to suffer only minor injuries, but paramedics strapped them to stretchers and put neck braces on them before going to Stanford University Medical Center. Acting Menlo Park Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Glenn Grant said after the accident that he couldn't comment on the injuries, but noted it's standard practice to bring car accident victims to hospitals in a stable position.

A firefighter held the child, who was sitting in a safety seat during the accident, as his mother and father were taken to the hospital.

After Contreras was pulled from her car, police began taking pictures of the scene and searching the vehicles. One officer found a 12-pack of Corona in her car, some of which had been consumed. He set it on the car roof and took a picture.

Police confirmed that Contreras has a warrant for her arrest involving a past drunken driving conviction, and that she was driving with a suspended license.

The Pontiac's front left section was completely exposed, and the front right tire was wedged back about a foot, off the axel sideways, almost into the driver's side door. Her back fender had flown across the street after hitting the parked pickup, and her deployed air bags were bloody.

Nearby, friends and family were crying as they watched the parents being taken to the hospital in stretchers.