A man was seriously injured and a woman and two children suffered minor to moderate injuries in a two-vehicle crash Sunday on Riverside Drive.
Watsonville Police Officer Javier Ayala said the man was driving a Honda Civic south on Walker Street with a woman and two children aboard around 2:25pm. Based on witnesses’ accounts, the Honda driver appeared to run a red light as he entered the intersection with Riverside Drive, Ayala said.Â
A woman driving a Mazda SUV west on Riverside then plowed broadside into the Honda, caving in the driver’s side. The impact hurled the Honda across both eastbound lanes of Riverside where it then careened over a concrete median.
As the initial emergency workers arrived from Watsonville Fire and Watsonville Police, off-duty Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Lt. Dee Baldwin and his wife, Ashley, an off-duty 911 dispatcher, pulled up and joined the rescue efforts. At one point Ashley took the infant into her arms and comforted the baby in the front seat of a patrol car. At the same time Watsonville Police Sgt. Monique Rangel picked up the young boy from the heavily damaged Honda and carried him to a waiting ambulance.
The man, woman and two children in the Honda were taken to Watsonville Community Hospital where the man, who was initially found unconscious, was flown by air ambulance to an out-of-county trauma center.
Ayala said the two children and the woman were treated and released from the hospital later Monday while the man remained hospitalized. He added that it was too early to determine if alcohol or drugs played a role in the crash but initial signs indicated they were not a factor.
The woman driving the Mazda and a German Shepherd in her vehicle were not injured.
Both eastbound lanes of Riverside were closed for several hours.
The incident is still under investigation.
