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Van With 78-Year-Old Woman Behind Wheel Rams Police Car In Ventura County

(Oxnard Police Department photo)
A van with a 78-year-old woman behind the wheel smashed an Oxnard Police car head-on, but fortunately no one was hurt.

Investigators are trying to determine what led to a bizarre head-on collision between a van and a police patrol car on the South Coast.

Oxnard Police were sent to the intersection of Fifth Street and Rose Avenue Friday night by reports of a van stopped on the railroad tracks.  A patrol car reached the scene less than a minute later. 

Officers say when they turned a spotlight on the van, it accelerated off the tracks. It first went against traffic on Fifth Street, and then the wrong way on Rose Avenue.  It sideswiped a truck before smashing head-on into a patrol car.

The van’s driver turned out to be a confused 78-year-old woman.  Investigators think she either had a medical or psychiatric issue.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.  The woman wasn’t arrested, but was taken to a hospital for observation.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.