LANCASTER, Calif. — A pregnant woman was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries Tuesday after the car she was in allegedly ran a red light and hit a fire truck, throwing her from the vehicle.
NBC Los Angeles reported that the woman was riding in the back seat of the car when it collided with the fire truck at an intersection at about 2 p.m.
The fire truck had its lights and sirens on and was responding to an emergency call for a person in distress. The fire truck stopped at a red light at the intersection, while its driver was clearing lanes, according to The Antelope Daily Times.
A car with the pregnant woman had the green light, but failed to yield to the emergency vehicle at the intersection, according to Detective Michael Politano of the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station.
“The Toyota Avalon changed lanes from the No. 2 to the No. 3 lane to pass the stopped vehicles and collided into the emergency vehicle in the intersection,” Politano said. “The collision diverted the Toyota Avalon into a traffic signal pole.”
The car was carrying a driver and two passengers, including a pregnant female who was sitting in the back seat, according to the report.
The woman, believed to be seven or eight months pregnant, was ejected from the car, according to the report. She was taken to a hospital. The two other people in the car and a firefighter suffered minor injuries.
Neither alcohol nor drugs appeared to be factors in the collision, according to the report.
“The law clearly states that when an emergency vehicle approaches, you’re supposed to move over to the right and stop,” Sgt. David Jennings said. “I can’t say what’s going through this person’s mind, whether he just didn’t hear or see the emergency vehicle, but it does tend to be a problem in these busy streets here in the Antelope Valley.”
The incident remains under investigation.