Good Samaritans Rescue Driver Of Flipped Car On Ortega Highway

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA — Drivers know that Ortega Highway can be treacherous, especially in the rain. Eastbound traffic at the Orange County and Riverside County line came to a stop when an overturned vehicle blocked lanes Thursday morning.

Just before 8:30 a.m. eastbound drivers near the county line came across a silver sedan that had flipped, California Highway Patrol reported. The four door vehicle was laying in lanes on its roof with the driver trapped inside.

"Good Samaritans stopped their vehicle, and attempted to get the driver out of the flipped car," a California Highway Patrol officer Michael Schuman told Patch.

Large rocks or boulders were reported in the roadway by CHP officers on the scene, and traffic was at a stand-still both ways.

"The driver of the flipped car was either swerving to avoid boulders that had slid down the hillside, or the rocks ended up in the road as a result of the crash," Schuman said. CHP has cleared the roadway however the eastbound traffic remained slow as of 10:30 a.m. As of this report it is unclear if there were any injuries associated with this collision.

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Photo: Steve Lusky