Condition improving for teen injured in Glide crash
PORTLAND, Ore. -- A 14-year-old girl injured in a crash in Glide Wednesday morning, has been upgraded to good condition at a Portland hospital.
LaShanda Hopson was injured in a crash on Glide Loop Road on her way to school.
She was taken to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, and Thursday the hospital reported her condition had improved. She was transported to the Pediatric Ward of the hospital.
The driver of the vehicle, Karina McKenzie, 19, and a passenger, Jessica McChord, 17, were both reported in Fair condition at Mercy Medical Center.
The three were headed westbound on Glide Loop, when according to officers, McKenzie lost control of the vehicle and over corrected. Police say the car slid sideways, hit the base of a tree and flew about 50 feet through the air before striking another tree.
That's when the car landed down the 35 foot embankment.
The water rescue team was activated, but called off after first responders arrived and found that the vehicle didn't go all the way into the North Umpqua River.
A passing Glide School District bus driver, Brandy Sandovall, witnessed the crash and called 911. She said she turned on her flashing lights, had one of the older kids on the bus watch the others, then climbed down the steep embankment and pulled people out of the car. "I was shaking a little bit, but I went down there," she said. "I'm not going to leave somebody in a car, stuffed in there."
The Steep Angle Rescue Team used a basket to bring the injured people back up the embankment to the ambulance.
Glide Loop Road was shut down for about two hours.
