A single-car accident on Wright Road, where a paint truck lost control, overturned and hit a tree, sent one Hollister resident to the hospital with moderate injuries Wednesday.
David Baca suffered a cut to his right hand and a head injury after a truck he was riding in overturned and hit a tree in front of 1591 Wright Rd. around 4:30 p.m.
Jose Arturo Torres, also of Hollister, was driving eastbound in a Stark Weather Painting company truck with Baca and another employee inside, when a truck towing a trailer filled with pipes drifted into his lane and caused him to loose control and overturn into a walnut tree, said Deputy Mike Rodriguez with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department.
“He swerved to avoid a collision and this is where he ended up,” Rodriguez said, referencing the tree.
Torres was cited for driving without a license, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Jason Page.
Baca was in the far right passenger seat and made direct contact with the tree when the truck overturned, said Mark Nicodemus, who was driving by moments after the accident occurred.
“I saw the truck laying there and they were pulling the guy out of the windshield,” Nicodemus said.
Baca was the only occupant injured and was transported to Hazel Hawkins Hospital by ambulance, where he was then life-flighted to a San Jose-area hospital, according to paramedics.
