Jaws of Life used to free woman from wreckage in Petaluma car crash

Emergency crews used the Jaws of Life to pry a woman from her SUV Sunday in Petaluma after an accident left her trapped in the crumpled vehicle on Sunday.|

Emergency crews used the Jaws of Life to pry a woman from her SUV Sunday in Petaluma after an accident left her trapped in the crumpled vehicle, pinned against a tree on its side.

CHP and Petaluma police officers responded with fire crews from Rancho Adobe and Petaluma to the two-vehicle accident near the intersection of Petaluma Boulevard North and Bailey Avenue.

The woman’s red SUV was rammed from behind by a blue SUV at approximately 1:05 p.m. Sunday as she slowed or came to a stop to make a right turn into a driveway, said Mike Weihman, battalion chief with Rancho Adobe. The impact sent the blue SUV flipping through the air and pushed the red one into the tree.

Extricating someone from a car is rare, said Weihman, but this case was particularly unusual.

Firefighters first cut a door off at the top, creating room for them to work, then used the life-saving tool to burrow a tunnel from the back to eventually pull the woman free. The delicate operation shut down the southbound lanes of Petaluma Boulevard for about an hour.

The woman suffered major injuries to her arms and pelvis and was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. The driver of the blue SUV was uninjured.

“If you’d have looked at the front of the vehicle, you’d have thought no one could have survived this,” Weihman said of the red SUV.

“From the outside it looked like there was no driver space on that side, but in fact there was.”

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.