Three cars collide on Shaw Avenue
Driver runs red light, nearly hits flower shop on tuesday

By Joshua D Scroggin

Four people escaped serious injury during a three-car collision at the intersection of Cedar and Shaw avenues Tuesday afternoon.

The accident happened after the driver of a 1998 Cadillac traveling eastbound on Shaw was unable to avoid hitting a southbound ‘97 Saturn SL 2 after the Saturn entered the intersection on a red light, police said.

Dale Renberg, 73, the driver of the Cadillac, said he tried to swerve to avoid the collision.

The Cadillac spun around, nearly hitting a student on a bicycle, collided with a third car and came to rest in the intersection, Renberg said.

“ We just about got one of the students,” Renberg said. “I don’t know how we missed her.”

The red Saturn, which was attempting to make a left turn onto Shaw, drove up the curb on the southeast corner of the intersection after the initial collision. It grazed a telephone pole and stopped about two feet from the entrance of the D&L Roses shop on the corner.

Gaby Barajas was working in the flower shop and said she was standing with her back to the entrance when she heard the collision, turned and saw the Saturn heading right at her. “It scared me,” Barajas said.

Susie Terry, the driver of the Saturn, said she was on her way to the bank and initially thought the turn light was green when she entered the intersection.

Terry said she couldn’t see what was happening during the accident and tensed up until her car stopped moving.

“ The thought runs through your mind, ‘am I dead?’” Terry said.

Terry limped with some knee pain after the accident, but was otherwise unharmed as the Saturn’s airbag opened during the collision.

Renberg was having a little more trouble exiting his car after the accident.

Bystander Rafael Torres, a train conductor for Union Pacific, said he heard the crash and rushed to the scene to see how he could help. Torres pulled a prone Renberg from the Cadillac.

“ The engine smoke was coming in, so I just made sure all the windows were open,” Torres said. “He wasn’t stuck, but he was hurt. He was in shock, so he wasn’t moving.”

Renberg said he was unharmed after the accident.

The driver of the third car involved in the accident was able to drive past the intersection and pull over to the side of the road, but the other two cars were heavily damaged and unable to drive away from the scene.

The Cadillac’s front end was crushed in, and it had damage to its rear, where it hit the third car. The side of the Saturn was caved in from front to back, and its windshield was broken.

Roland Saldivar, who witnessed the accident said it was only a matter of time before a serious accident resulted in a car nearly crashing into the flower shop, which is its own separate building separated from the street by only a sidewalk. Barajas agreed.

“ I’ve always thought about that,” Barajas said. “There have been accidents before, but this is the first time they’ve actually come up.”

Torres said Saldivar said everyone was lucky the accident wasn’t worse, especially Barajas.

“ She’s lucky she has a telephone pole in front of her place,” Torres said.