An off-duty police officer raced to the rescue of a woman and two children Monday after their SUV flipped onto its roof near Castaic, pulling the two children to safety, California Highway Patrol Officer Josh Greengard said.
The off-duty officer then helped firefighters free the woman, who remained trapped upside down inside the overturned Ford Explorer.
The woman and the two kids were taken to the hospital — the woman in one ambulance, kids in another.
The extent of the woman’s injuries was not known at this time. The children, however, suffered minor injuries, Greengard said.
At about 3:30 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to reports of a woman trapped inside an overturned SUV that left the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 near Lake Hughes Road and went up an embankment, landing on its roof.
“Per the California Highway Patrol, we have one person still in the vehicle,” Brian Stevens, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said at 3:38 p.m.
The off-duty officer worked with firefighters to free the driver, Greengard said.
“The vehicle drove up the center divider dirt embankment, then came to rest after flipping on its roof,” he said.
