Local News in Brief : 2 Killed as Car, Ambulance Crash Head-On Near Palmdale

Two people were killed early Sunday near Palmdale when their car crossed a freeway center divider and crashed head-on into an ambulance taking a patient to a hospital, the California Highway Patrol said.

Three Wilson Ambulance Co. employees and their patient were injured in the collision, CHP officer Monty Kiefer said.

The car’s driver, Charles B. Stanford, 25, of Canyon Country and his passenger, Shelly Pistachio, 25, of Palmdale, died at the scene, authorities said. Three open beer containers, two empty and one almost full, were found in Stanford’s car, Kiefer said.

Lesley Stuart, 18, of Acton, the patient; her fiance, Bruce Ritchie, 19, an off-duty ambulance attendant, and Dean E. Sparks, 19, of Palmdale, an ambulance attendant, were admitted to Palmdale Hospital Medical Center, where a nursing supervisor said they were in satisfactory condition.

Stuart was being taken to the Palmdale hospital at the time of the accident. A third ambulance attendant, Jane Smith, was treated and released, the hospital spokeswoman said.

The CHP officer said the accident occurred about 1:30 a.m. on Sierra Highway, east of Pearblossom Highway and about three miles south of Palmdale. Kiefer said Stanford, westbound at a high speed, lost control of his car on a curve, crossed over to the eastbound fast lane and collided with the ambulance.

Stanford had been drinking before the accident, Kiefer said. He said an investigation to determine whether Stanford was intoxicated is continuing.

Neither victim was wearing a seat belt and Stanford was partially thrown through the windshield, the CHP spokesman said.