Man in Critical Condition After Car Overturned, Went Down Embankment

A 60-year-old man was rescued after his vehicle went down an embankment off the freeway in Hercules Saturday morning, a Pinole fire official said. Firefighters and officers from the California Highway Patrol responded to a report of a person trapped in a vehicle on state Highway 4 near the Franklin Canyon Golf Course around 8:10 a.m., Pinole fire Battalion Chief Steve Akre said.

Emergency crews arrived to find the vehicle was resting on a drainage pipe 100 feet down an embankment near a creek bed, he said. The man had lost control of his vehicle and struck a guardrail, then the car overturned and went down an embankment, Akre said.

Crews were able to extricate the man out of the car and brought him up to the roadway by a rope, he said. The man who suffered serious injuries to his head and chest was transported to a helicopter that took him to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, according to Akre. The man underwent in surgery and was in critical condition as of this afternoon, Akre said.

Crews from the Rodeo-Hercules Fire District and Contra Costa County Fire Protection District also responded to the incident.

By Bay City News