Traffic Control Worker In Critical Condition After Driver Involved In Earlier Hit-And-Run Crashes In Anaheim
ANAHEIM (CBSLA) – A civilian Anaheim Traffic Control Assistant was critically injured Saturday when a driver suspected of being under the influence of drugs crashed a pickup truck into her marked vehicle outside a local high school, authorities said.
It happened at 1:21 p.m. in the 1900 block of West La Palma Avenue across from Servite High School, Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt said.
The woman was performing traffic control duties and was stopped and seated in a marked traffic vehicle blocking the westbound number two lane of La Palma Avenue, Wyatt said.
"Pretty loud bang, and I ran out to the front, and there was an officer on the ground – and it didn't look too good," said Tony Okada.
Coworkers and paramedics rendered aid to the woman and she was taken to a trauma center, where she remained in critical condition, Wyatt said.
Ben Garza is a security guard at the high school, where hundreds of students and parents from a nearby school were visiting for a music and dance competition.
"It was pretty horrific. Saw a lady unconscious and she was bleeding a lot, and she needed attention," he said.
The Tundra driver, Jose Alfredo Alcantar Garcia, 34, of Placentia was booked at the Anaheim Detention Facility on charges including felony driving under the influence of drugs causing great bodily injury, possession of methamphetamine for sale, transportation of methamphetamine and driving on a suspended driver's license, the sergeant said. Bail was set at $100,000.
Police added a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge after confirming Garcia struck another vehicle an hour earlier on La Palma Avenue and fled eastbound, Wyatt said.
No injuries were reported in that crash.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
