A vehicle veered off South Old Highway 395 near Fallbrook Friday morning and tumbled down an embankment, coming to rest upside down with one occupant trapped inside. The crash was reported at 9:39 a.m. near Tecalote Lane, just north of State Route 76, setting off a rescue effort that ended with the patient being flown from the scene by air ambulance.
According to Village News, the vehicle appeared to have rolled and flipped before landing on its roof after overturning down the slope. A reporting party told California Highway Patrol dispatchers they heard a loud crash near the 11th hole at Pala Mesa Golf Resort and then spotted the heavily damaged vehicle down the embankment, describing it as disintegrated with all sides smashed in.
Dispatch logs indicate the occupant was pinned inside the wreckage, with injuries of unknown severity at the time crews arrived. North County Fire Protection District sent multiple units to assist with the rescue, and personnel worked to free the trapped occupant before completing the extrication.
Air Ambulance Called In For Extraction
Once freed, the patient was transported from the scene by air ambulance, with one person airlifted to a hospital, the same account notes. Authorities set up one-way traffic control in the crash area to accommodate emergency responders and the vehicle recovery, and the report notes the arrangement was meant to keep the roadway passable while crews worked. The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.
Stretch Of Highway Has Seen Trouble Before
This is not the first serious incident to unfold along this stretch of Old Highway 395 near the golf resort. In 2007, an Irvine man died after driving a golf cart over a cliff at Pala Mesa Golf Resort and plunging more than 100 feet, according to ocregister.com. That earlier accident shut down Old Highway 395 in both directions for nearly two hours while investigators worked the scene, a closure similar in disruption to Friday's one-way traffic controls. The 2007 incident involved a golf cart, while Friday's involved a vehicle that rolled down an embankment.
No further details on the condition of the person airlifted Friday, or on how many people were in the vehicle, have been released. Hoodline will update this story as more information becomes available from investigators.
