According to the Press Democrat, on Saturday morning, at approximately 8:40 a.m., a suicidal 70-year-old California woman purposefully crashed her SUV into a truck.
The incident occurred on Adobe Road in Petaluma, California, when the woman’s eastbound Nissan Murano SUV crossed the center line and went into the path of an oncoming truck driven by Karl Minnigerode, 56.
Police say that the 70-year-old woman, whose name is not being released, set out that morning to kill herself.
Minnigerode was not injured.
Minnigerode told the Press Democrat that police informed him that the woman admitted that she left her house “with the intent of finding a truck to drive into.” He said the incident was 30 seconds of sheer terror.
“I was driving along, minding my own business and the lady in the Nissan just came across at me, across the double yellow lines at me,” Minnigerode told the Press Democrat.
“I held onto the steering wheel trying to keep it on the pavement, keep it upright,” Minnigerode explained. “It was a wild ride, I tell you … I thought that was it for me.All I had time to do was swerve to the right. I avoided the head-on.”
The woman’s SUV sideswiped the truck. The truck overturned, and spilled its load.
Minnigerode said his company’s main truck– a 5-month-old, $150,000 rig– was severely damaged.
“She hit the middle axle, broke off the frame. It sent me completely out of control,” he said.
The woman was placed on a 72-hour hold.
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