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SPPD: Five people injured in Ojai-Santa Paula Road traffic collision

September 12, 2012
Santa Paula Police Department

Five people - including three children - were injured Wednesday in a traffic collision that occurred near Mupu Elementary School, according to a Santa Paula Police spokesman.

Interim Police Chief Ishmael Cordero said the collision occurred at 7:50 a.m. on September 5 near the intersection of Stonegate Road and Ojai-Santa Paula Road, just south of Mupu Elementary School. 

Cordero said Diana Mendez, 28, of Santa Paula, was parked on the east shoulder of Ojai-Santa Paula Road in her 2011 Mitsubishi Endeavor facing north. “The driver pulled forward and made a U-turn to go southbound” when Mendez’s vehicle was hit by a 2000 Acura TL being driven at approximately 40 mph by Carolina Castro, 23, of Santa Paula.

Cordero said when Santa Paula Police and Santa Paula Fire personnel arrived on scene they found that five people, the drivers and passengers in the vehicle, were reporting injuries. “Mendez complained of a possible concussion and pain to her right arm,” and she was transported by ambulance to Ventura County Medical Center. Also transported to VCMC were Mendez’s passengers, a 13-year-old girl complaining of pain to her left hip and a 3-year-old girl who had “pain to the abdomen.”

Castro complained of pain to her left shoulder and right foot and she was also transported to VCMC, as was her 5-year-old passenger, who told EMTs and ambulance paramedics that her neck and back hurt. Mendez’s Mitsubishi had moderate damage to the left front, said Cordero, while Castro’s Acura “had major front-end damage.

“It appears that everyone was on their way to school” when the collision occurred. Cordero added the suspected cause of the collision is “an illegal U-turn,” but that no one was cited. the SPPD traffic officer will further investigate the collision.