http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/New ... m/46$57555
he body of an elderly woman was discovered Sunday in the front passenger side of a crumpled car in a San Fernando Valley towing company's yard -- a day after paramedics had removed her son from the same vehicle after a crash, authorities said.
The woman, whose identity was not released, had apparently been left in the car at the accident scene in Tarzana even as her son was taken to a hospital, police said.
Investigators began looking for her after family members reported that two relatives -- not one -- were missing, Officer Mike Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department said.
"We conducted a follow-up to the tow yard, and we discovered the woman inside the vehicle," Lopez said. "She was dead."
LAPD detectives and officials on Sunday afternoon and evening swarmed the vehicle lot at Howard Sommers Towing Inc., an official police impound and tow yard in Canoga Park, trying to determine how city paramedics and traffic officers had failed to spot the woman in the damaged vehicle.
The slightly built woman had been concealed beneath an air bag that had deployed during the accident, police said. The vehicle was badly banged-up after crashing into a building.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office dispatched investigators late Sunday to examine and remove the body.
"There are a lot of questions and we don't have all of the answers," Lopez said, adding that authorities are "conducting an investigation surrounding this unfortunate incident."
The incident began about 10 a.m. Saturday when the vehicle driven by the woman's son hit a parked car in a bank parking lot and then crashed into the building at 19255 W. Ventura Blvd.
Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics removed the driver from the vehicle and took him to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, said spokesman Brian Humphrey. He did not release the driver's name, age or medical condition.
The car was then towed about seven miles to the impound yard, where it sat overnight. The city's Department of Building and Safety, meanwhile, was called in to check for structural damage at the bank after the car was pulled from the building.
On Sunday afternoon, authorities called the impound yard and asked an employee to look in the vehicle for anything unusual, a source said.
About 3:15 p.m., the Fire Department's emergency medical technicians were summoned by the towing yard, Humphrey said. "We had one person declared deceased at the scene. . . .
"Obviously, there is interest in our department in what happened. We are awaiting the results of the LAPD investigation. It's purely a law enforcement investigation at this time."
They did not reach an immediate conclusion as to the precise time or cause of death, said coroner's spokesman Lt. John Kades. Such details will come after a more thorough examination of the body.
"The doctors may have a conclusion after the autopsy if this person died instantly or not," Kades said.
"That's a possibility, but there's no way to tell or predict."
Body of crash victim left in car
Moderator: Site Admin
Forum rules
Check for duplicates before posting, otherwise post it in the original thread. If you want to post an article of your own or find it significant for the front page please let us know. Rangers Lead the Way
Check for duplicates before posting, otherwise post it in the original thread. If you want to post an article of your own or find it significant for the front page please let us know. Rangers Lead the Way
- Disinfertention
- Ranger/Admin
- Posts: 2735
- Joined: August 13th, 2003, 3:51 pm
- Has thanked: 13 times
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Creeping Death
- Ranger
- Posts: 2119
- Joined: April 14th, 2003, 10:11 am
Either way, EMS is going to take a serious beating on this one. Failure to properly size up the scene and they missed a patient. Granted, on some wrecks it is tough to do.
Either the EMS unit ROYALLY screwed the pooch on this one, or that must have been one heckuva mangled car. I can see missing someone that had been ejected, but I am having a difficult time seeing them missing someone crumpled up underneath a deployed airbag, especially since there were possibly first responders inside the vehicle providing treatment.
This one will get ugly.
Either the EMS unit ROYALLY screwed the pooch on this one, or that must have been one heckuva mangled car. I can see missing someone that had been ejected, but I am having a difficult time seeing them missing someone crumpled up underneath a deployed airbag, especially since there were possibly first responders inside the vehicle providing treatment.
This one will get ugly.
A Co 1/75 '94-'97
Class 5-96
Class 5-96
- Sleepy Doc
- Ranger
- Posts: 1671
- Joined: September 19th, 2006, 4:54 am