One person was injured this morning after the driver of a pickup tore through the Humboldt Sanitation lot on Central Avenue in McKinleyville, colliding with several other vehicles, structures and a pedestrian until coming to a stop past the back of the yard.
Officer Brian Solus of the California Highway Patrol told the Outpost’s Andrew Goff, on scene, that the pickup driver appeared to have suffered from a medical emergency, possibly a seizure, which caused the accidents. Witnesses reported seeing the driver slumped over his steering wheel as it ricocheted through the lot.
Emergency dispatchers sent multiple ambulances to the scene, along with engines from the Arcata Fire District. Two people were transported to the hospital — the driver and a Humboldt Sanitation employee who suffered minor injuries.
The incident began roughly here, at the entrance to the yard. The pickup driver’s “medical incident” apparently caused him to slump over and to step on the accelerator.
The pickup first ran into this RAV4, pushing it into the Humboldt Sanitation office.
Then it careened into this pole structure, taking out two of the posts.
After passing through the second post the truck strikes this dumpster, and it is the dumpster that makes contact with the recycling center employee causing minor injuries. Officer Solus told the Outpost that the employee was conscious and walking before he was transported to the hospital.
At that point, the pickup collided with this big rig. It had originally been feared that the driver of the big rig had suffered injuries, but he was not taken to the hospital. The rig was moved shortly after the collision.
Finally the pickup came to rest against this concrete wall. The driver, Solus said, did not suffer any injuries as a result of the crash, but was taken to the hospital for the medical condition that caused all of this.
“He seemed fine,” Solus said.