Sunny day, treacherous road: driver ‘alive only by the grace of God’

By Marcy Axness, TME

While most Pine Mountain Club residents were delighting in the much-needed snowfall on Tuesday, Feb. 15, the ever-loyal UPS drivers who serve them were high-tailing it to lower ground.

“They pulled Steve and me off the mountain due to the weather,” driver Frank Mendiara posted just before 1:30 p.m. on the local Facebook group, where he likes to keep residents informed.

He said they would be back the next day, “weather permitting.”

The next day, February 16, was clear and sunny. But many icy patches remained in the shady spots on Mil Potrero Highway. David Garcia, 31, was added to the PMC routes to help deliver the backlog of leftover parcels from the snowy day before.

Just after 3 p.m., Garcia was headed toward PMC, the afternoon sun in his eyes, and he came around a curve and…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

The crash scene as it appeared to passersby looked less serious than it actually was, said a fellow driver (see photos on page 7).

Nicholas Novosel snapped this at 6:20 p.m., over three hours after the accident happened. He was eastbound on Mil Potrero, heading out of PMC. He said cars were being allowed through for 10 minutes at a time in each direction.

Above: Photos of the crashed truck after it was towed back to the UPS yard in Bakersfield show the extensive damage. Former NTSB accident investigator Sandy Browne said this extreme damage is “the result of crashing in a vehicle designed for something other than occupant survival.’

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This is part of the February 25, 2022 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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