Car plunges 200 feet, teen survives

EL CAJON, Calif. - A 16-year-old girl was hospitalized on Monday after launching her car off a steep embankment in El Cajon, Calif.

The crash occurred on La Cresta Road near Shadow Mountain Road at about 7:30 p.m. According to the California Highway Patrol, the teenager was not drunk or suicidal but simply forgot to turn when the road began to curve. The car went about 200 feet down an embankment and into a ravine.

A nearby resident called 911 when he heard the teen screaming after she was ejected from the car. The CHP said she was not wearing her seat belt.

Battalion Chief Ted Kakuris, who is with the Heartland Fire and Rescue Department, said, "She had head and chest injuries and was getting kind of combative due to the head injury."

Initially, emergency crews were going to airlift the girl out, but because of the wires running along La Cresta Road and the combativeness of the patient, they were unable to.

"So we ended up packaging her up in a stoke stretcher and we hauled her up by hand using rope with mechanical advantage and a lot of people," said Kakuris.

The teen was transported to Sharp Memorial Hospital in Kearny Mesa with what the CHP described as moderate injuries.

The CHP said alcohol was not a factor in the crash. They say the teen driver simply forgot to turn when the road curved.