The family rear-ended in the car, which is now totaled, is recovering from minor injuries and is grateful for an “extraordinary” community response.
A driver was arrested for DUI and booked into jail April 11 after rear-ending a vehicle with three passengers inside, leaving the scene and causing more damage.
The accident victims, La Jolla residents Gloria (last name withheld for privacy) and her sons, 12 and 10, have minor injuries and are recovering.
Emergency calls came in just after 3 pm April 11, San Diego police Lt Bryan Brecht said, reporting a female driver of a white Jeep who was driving recklessly, swerving through traffic and losing control of her vehicle.
Gloria was driving her sons home after school, heading southbound on La Jolla Boulevard, when the Jeep driver rear-ended her new Volkswagen Atlas at the Camino de la Costa roundabout, Gloria said.
The female driver then left the scene, lost control of her vehicle, overcorrected, drove over the raised median in the roundabout and struck a yield sign, Brecht said.
The Jeep came to a stop in a front yard on Camino de la Costa.
Meanwhile, Gloria’s car was smoking and would not start, so she hurried to leave the vehicle and get her sons out as several passersby stopped their cars to assist.
La Jolla Boulevard was full of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, she said, including strollers.
As Gloria and her family waited on the sidewalk, she saw police taking the Jeep driver out of the vehicle while still drinking from a bottle, Gloria said. The driver was also yelling at the officers.
Gloria commended the 30 to 40 people who stopped to check on her and her sons.
“The community was above and beyond,” she said, giving snacks, water and blankets to her sons while she spoke to police and dealt with her car.
“We are so lucky the accident happened where it did,” she added. “Every third car knew us.”
She and her sons are now recovering from concussions, whiplash and contusions, she said, and all have seen doctors and are receiving physical therapy after the accident.
The car is totaled, she said.
However, she is grateful the driver didn’t hit any pedestrians and for the “extraordinary” community response.
© lajolla.ca
