Tehachapi News

Sheriff citizen volunteer, 79, injured on duty, undergoes surgery

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UPDATE 10:45 p.m. Friday, May 8: A supervisor at Kern Medical Center said Mary Nichols is in stable condition. The supervisor said she had just spoken to Nichols to make sure it was OK with her to share her medical condition.

UPDATE 3:45 p.m. Thursday, May 7, 2009: The Kern Medical Center said the condition of Mary Nichols is serious.

UPDATE 5:50 p.m. Wednesday, May 6, 2009: The Kern Medical Center said the condition of Mary Nichols is fair.
 

A 79-year-old Sheriff’s volunteer from Tehachapi remains hospitalized in critical condition after a car she was in on assignment rolled over her April 22 in Caliente.
Her condition on Thursday, April 30, was serious, according to Kern Medical Center, and by Friday fell to critical.

Mary Nichols underwent surgery for fractures suffered when the Sheriff's unmarked 1997 Ford Crown Victoria in which she had been riding rolled backwards over her, trapping her under the rear tires.

Nichols had left the car to see why it had become stuck atop an asphalt curb on a steep driveway.

The driver, Manuel Terrazas, 73, of Tehachapi - also a Citizen Service Unit volunteer --  exited the car as well. The release of her weight, then his weight, apparently unstuck the vehicle.

Both the California Highway Patrol and Terrazas said the brakes had not been set.

“The driver high-centered the vehicle - it got stuck with the body on the curb,” said Officer Robert Rodriguez, public information officer for the CHP in Bakersfield. “The rear wheels were not getting any traction. She walked toward the rear to check it out.

She said to Terrazas, 'You are high centered.' He got out.

With both of them out, the car lightened. The rear wheels gained traction and the car went over her, Rodriguez said.

Nichols broke both femurs, both hips and one of her arms. One arm was severely skinned, he said. She was airlifted to Kern Medical Center.

Sgt. Richard Wood of the Tehachapi Sheriff Substation said Nichols and Terrazas were driving to Caliente to pick up a patrol vehicle at the remote home of a deputy who was to be off duty for several weeks. They had stopped to ask directions at a home up the driveway when they became stuck.

Prayers for Mary

“Mary needs your prayers,” said a distraught Terrazas, speaking from his home to the Tehachapi News April 27. “I went to St. Malachy's prayer group and she has a church praying for her.”

The accident occurred at 1:15 p.m.

“We went up a little drive to ask a lady for directions,” Terrazas said. “We saw the lady and she said we had 10 miles to go.

The car was on the incline, he said, when they got stuck.

“I put a rock in the back to get traction,” Terrazas said.

Nichols went to the rear of the car.

“I saw her falling off the incline - she just disappeared out of my sight, Terrazas said. “The car started to roll.”

“I tried to grab hold of her and I couldn't grab in time,” Terrazas said. “I didn't put on the brakes. I am the only one that saw it.”

He was able to get her from under the vehicle.

“I helped her out,” he said. “I put her coat over her. The [homeowner] lady put a blanket on her and poured water on her forehead.”

It seemed like a long time before the paramedics arrived, Terrazas said.

“It was hard to get to.”

Terrazas, who has served in the Tehachapi Substation Citizen Service Unit for five years, said that as a volunteer he does mail runs to Mojave, Tehachapi and Bakersfield and takes sheriff's cars to be serviced or fixed from the substation to Bakersfield and back.

As a volunteer, he also escorts schoolchildren to Superior Court in Mojave, where they learn how the system works.

Service Unit valuable

Sgt. Wood of the Tehachapi Substation said the Citizen Service Unit is a valuable arm of the Sheriff's Office and its safety record is excellent.

“They do traffic control at events. They have child ID booths at events. There are dozens of unnamed things they'll do at the spur of the moment,” Wood said.

The Tehachapi unit has been in existence for 15 years, he said, and 25 volunteers are on the roster.

Wood said the Tehachapi volunteers served 7,319 hours last year.

“They have a pretty good driving record so far,” he said. “I am not aware of any wrecks [involving the volunteers]. This is the first in quite some time.”

He said a vehicle struck a volunteer's car several years ago.

The California Highway Patrol is in charge of the investigation.

Posted May 5, 2009; Volume 110 - No. 4, print edition May 6, 2009.