NORTH FORK – A single vehicle accident on Road 222 just north of Manzanita Lake Drive ended with a medical airlift by SkyLife from the North Fork School for one of the involved parties.
Just after 5 p.m., Martin Collazos was headed in to the North Fork Supermarket when he came upon a white Dodge pickup crashed into the bank on the right side of the road with the driver’s door open. He stopped, but saw no one around the truck, just one woman in the passenger seat who was unresponsive.
Without service on his cell phone, Collazos first tried to find someone at the PG&E facility just around the corner, but had no luck, so he headed down to Manzanita Lake where he located an Oakhurst resident named Ilona who let him use her phone to call 911.
He then headed back to the accident scene, where there was now someone trying to open the passenger door of the pickup. He says he could smell alcohol as he approached the truck, and the man trying to open the door came around the pickup, pitched a bottle into the bushes and took off down the middle of the road towards town.
Collazos and a North Fork firefighter who had responded in his own vehicle, ran after him shouting at him to stop and come back, which he finally did.
Meanwhile, Ilona and her passenger had pulled over on the opposite side of the road, and saw a second man curled up under a bush, apparently sleeping. She went over and poked at him to try and wake him, and though he moved a bit, he didn’t open his eyes.
Cal Fire Engine 4275 arrived at scene just then, and firefighters were successful in getting the female out of the pickup and standing.
When Sierra Ambulance pulled up, they immediately started evaluating the man sleeping under the bush. He did not appear to have any visible injuries, but since he was non-responsive, he was taken to the North Fork School and transported by SkyLife air ambulance to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno.
North Fork firefighters Diann Miller and Rachel Rivera also responded to the scene, and assisted EMS with the three individuals, who were all apparently intoxicated, but with no one in the driver’s seat when CHP arrived, it could likely not be determined who was behind the wheel when the crash happened.
The vehicle did not belong to any of the three North Fork residents, according to CHP, but was not stolen. The accident is under investigation.
