Crime & Safety

Deputy Saves Woman in 50 mph Runaway Car

A woman speeding more than 50 mph in a Ford Focus Thursday when sheriff's deputies noticed she had lost control and needed help.

A Tujunga woman lost control of her Ford Focus Thursday, plowing through five La Crescenta intersections at speeds exceeding 50 mph before sheriff's deputies used their patrol car to bring her car to a controlled stop, officials said.

Sheriff's Deputy Marcelo Ruiz and his partner, Reserve Deputy Alfred Danelian, saw the woman trying to get attention and help about 11:20 a.m., according to a news release from the .

Ruiz drove in front of the woman's car and stopped her vehicle, leaving just a bumper scratch.

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The driver was heading southbound from Foothill Boulevard onto Pennsylvania Avenue, according to the report. She ran through five intersections with cross traffic and red lights, but no one was injured and no traffic crashes happened. 

Sheriff's investigators determined her brakes did not work.

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