Driver Flees, Leaves Impaled Passenger In Horrific Crash Fighting For Her Life
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- After an all-day manhunt police arrested a suspect they say fled a Petaluma car accident that left his passenger impaled.
The woman passenger, meanwhile, is fighting for her life.
The crash happened around 10:30 a.m. in the 3200 block of Skillman Lane in Petaluma.
According to the CHP, the black Honda Civic flipped over and slid into an iron pipe fence. Part of the fence railing pierced the front of the car and went through the woman sitting on the passenger side.
The driver fled the scene, leaving behind his injured passenger, impaled by the metal pole.
One first responder described it as one of the most horrific car accidents he has ever seen.
"I asked him (the driver) if anybody else was in the car he said yes, so I ran around the other side and opened the door and there was a gal pinned upside down and impaled with a fence pipe going through her and by the time I looked up from that the gentleman had already fled the scene," said Blastone Dunn.
The woman had to be cut from the vehicle.
She was airlifted to Stanford Hospital with part of the pole still in her body where she is reported in critical condition.
Authorities spent the day scouring the area for the driver. Sonoma Sheriff's tweeted a photo of the suspect being led away in handcuffs around 9 p.m.
— sonomasheriff (@sonomasheriff) August 14, 2016
The suspect's identity was not yet released, and it was not clear if alcohol or drugs were involved.
