Friday's three accidents send five to hospital

Five people were transported for medical treatment Friday, officials said, after three separate vehicle accidents occurred involving a total of seven cars.

The five, one of whom reportedly blacked out behind the wheel, were transported in non-life threatening condition, officials said. Friday’s traffic incidents follow Thursday’s fatal accident in which a daycare bus, driven by 27-year-old Victoria Garcia, collided with the former Ajuua’s restaurant building, 2120 Andrews Highway.

The Odessa Police Department did not release any new information Friday about Thursday’s accident that killed Garcia, citing the ongoing information.

Garcia’s body was sent to Tarrant County for an autopsy; however, no preliminary results were available Friday. A spokesman with the Ector County Medical Center said a toxicology test had been ordered.

Garcia died Thursday after the bus she was driving for Daystar Kids Learning Center went past a stop sign at West 21st Street and past Andrews Highway, stopping after it crashed into the old Ajuua’s building.

The three accidents from Friday avoided fatalities, however.

The first vehicle accident involved a car stopped on train tracks along Business Interstate 20, west of Faudree Road at around 7:45 a.m. A Union Pacific train was alerted and stopped before colliding with the vehicle, which reportedly lost control, drove through a ditch and onto the tracks. No one was injured in the incident.

Friday’s second accident sent one Odessa woman to the hospital, Odessa Police Department Officer Gene Ontiveroz said.  The accident occurred around 8:35 a.m. on West County Road near Fifth Street when a blue Ford Focus, driven by 26-year-old Roberta Lujan, collided with a Chevrolet Tahoe, Ontiveroz said.

Lujan was transported and was cited with failure to yield right of way from private driveway, Ontiveroz said. He said the Tahoe was southbound on West County Road when Lujan exited a Texaco parking lot to head north and collided with the Tahoe.

The third accident occurred Friday at around 12:15 p.m. and was a four-vehicle accident that sent four people to the hospital, said Capt. Jason Cotton with Odessa Fire/Rescue.

Cotton said a black Chevrolet Suburban swerved from the westbound lanes of West 42nd Street into the eastbound lanes, colliding with several cars that were stopped at the Golder Avenue light.

Several people at the scene said it was caused by a woman who blacked out at the wheel.

Tamara Kerr said her mother was driving the black suburban with her son, who is almost 2 years old, to meet her for lunch when the woman blacked out. Kerr said her mother is a diabetic.

@OdessaAmerican