1620 5th AvenueA San Diego woman injured in a car accident on June 18 has been declared brain dead, according to the Washington Post. Ashley Garcia, 22, was injured after the speeding car in which she was a passenger lost control and crashed into a swimming pool at a private residence.
The driver, Robert Aaron Anderson, Garcia’s boyfriend, was able to quickly free himself as the car submerged into the pool. Emergency responders rushed Garcia to a Palomar Medical Center in Escondido. Garcia never woke up from a coma, and her parents made the decision to pull her off of life support after consulting with her doctors.
The accident occurred as 33-year-old Anderson was speeding around a bend known to neighbors as “roller coaster road.” Local neighbor Jarit Welles, 22, rushed to the scene and asked Anderson what happened. Anderson informed Welles that Garcia was trapped in the car, and Welles immediately dove in to rescue her. Welles finally managed to free her from the seat belt, dragged her to the side of the pool and began performing CPR.
“He’s really a hero for what he did,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Jim Bettencourt. “He did what most people would not do in that situation.”
The crash is currently under investigation, and alcohol does not appear to have been a factor.
“It finally happened,” homeowner Bill Miller told Fox 5 in California. “We’ve made comments in the past about someday somebody’s going to come flying over that hill, lose it, and end up in our swimming pool. I wish the county would have done something when I was injured [Miller was hit by a car in his yard five years ago], but I guess I wasn’t injured bad enough to motivate them to do anything. Hopefully now, they’ll do something so this doesn’t happen again.”
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Bonnici Law Group, APC—San Diego wrongful death lawyer.
1620 5th Avenue