A vehicle sheared off a power pole and came to rest on the edge of a steep embankment in Oceanside early Monday, trapping a seriously injured driver inside as live wires dangled above her.
The crash at El Camino Real and Vista Oceana was reported just before 3:30 a.m., according to Oceanside Fire Department Battalion Chief Pete Lawrence.
After stabilizing the vehicle to keep it from sliding down the embankment, rescuers spent about a half-hour freeing the lone driver, Lawrence said, adding that the driver was a woman in her 40s.
Paramedics took her by ambulance to the nearby Oceanside Municipal Airport, where she was loaded onto a helicopter and flown to Scripps La Jolla Hospital for treatment.
Oceanside Police were investigating the cause of the crash.
— City News Service