Teen suffers major injuries after vehicle hits utility pole
An 18-year-old Ramona girl was airlifted to Palomar Medical Center with life threatening injuries early Thursday morning after the vehicle she was in struck a utility pole, said California Highway Patrol.
The single vehicle accident occurred on San Vicente Road, just north of Creelman Lane, at 4:20 a.m.
CHP Public Information Officer Kevin Pearlstein said the female was a passenger in the front seat of a 2013 Jeep Patriot, driven by an 18-year-old male from El Cajon. They were traveling southbound on San Vicente Road, Pearlstein said, and it appears the driver may have fallen asleep prior to striking a utility pole on the east side of the road.
“He then went across the lanes and struck another pole with the passenger side of the Jeep,” said the CHP officer.
The driver was transported to Palomar by ground ambulance with moderate, non-life-threatening injuries, Pearlstein said. Drugs nor alcohol are suspected, he added.
Although the SDG&E wood pole on the east side of San Vicente was still standing, the base was damaged and crews were in the process of replacing it with a steel pole Thursday morning.
- The base of an SDG&E pole is damaged after a vehicle struck it early Thursday morning. Sentinel photo/Karen Brainard