An accident on Union Road sent four people to the hospital via
helicopter Friday.
An accident on Union Road sent four people to the hospital via helicopter Friday.
Two Hollister residents, 18-year-old Brandy Lopes and a 15-year-old male, sustained major injuries after the 1993 Mazda 323 they were in collided with a 2003 Suburban at the intersection of Union and Riverside roads around 6:30 p.m. The Suburban was driven by 33-year-old Cristina Martinez of Hollister, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Chris Reinholm, 22, of Gilroy was driving westbound on Union Road, approaching Riverside Road at approximately 60 mph when he saw Martinez turning left onto Union Road from the stop sign at Riverside Road, said CHP Officer Terry Mayes.
Reinholm saw the Suburban, applied his brakes and steered left in an attempt to prevent a collision. The vehicles collided almost head on in the middle of the intersection, according to a CHP report.
Martinez said in a statement that before she ventured into the intersection she didn’t see any vehicles approaching, so she activated her left turn signal, then saw the Mazda approaching from the left, Mayes said.
She had almost completed the turn when the accident occurred.
Lopes, who was sitting in the right front passenger seat, was flown to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center with a broken arm, concussion and chest pain.
The 15-year-old juvenile was also flown to Santa Clara with contusions and pain to his left shoulder and side, Mayes said.
A third passenger in the Mazda, a 16-year-old female from Watsonville, was flown to San Jose Medical Center with a concussion, various lacerations and bruises.
Reinholm sustained moderate injuries and was flown via Cal-Star to San Jose with contusions on his forehead and abrasions to his chest from the seat belt and steering wheel. Martinez suffered a cut on her hand and refused medical attention.
Both vehicles sustained major front-end damage, Mayes said.
“You’ve got a Suburban and a Mazda,” she said. “Size counts.”
