Accident triggers chain reaction
Morgan Hill – A Gilroy man received moderate injuries in a three-car accident Wednesday morning on West Dunne Avenue.
According to Morgan Hill police Cmdr. Joe Sampson, the chain-reaction accident began just before 7am when the driver of a green Ford Explorer ran a red light at the intersection of Dunne Avenue and the northbound exit ramp of Highway 101.
Angel Olivas, 24, of San Jose, who was driving eastbound on Dunne Avenue, told police he couldn’t see the red light at the intersection until it was too late to stop. He hit a white Ford van, driven by Juan Padilla, 36, of Gilroy. Padilla was making a left turn from the highway off-ramp onto westbound Dunne, Sampson said, when Olivas came through the intersection, colliding with the van and causing it to careen into a Jaguar driven by Cathleen Berry of Morgan Hill. Berry’s car was stopped at the traffic light on westbound Dunne Avenue. She told police she saw Olivas’ Explorer hit Padilla’s van and push the van into her Jaguar.
Sampson said the doors of the van were damaged and wouldn’t open, so paramedics responding to the scene used the “jaws of life” to open the door and extricate Padilla, who was wearing a seatbelt, from the van. He was taken by ambulance to Regional Medical Center in San Jose with bruises and contusions.
Olivas and Berry were not injured in the accident.
There was no indication of drug or alcohol use by Olivas, Sampson said.
