Irma Zamora's husband urged her not to get out of the car as they approached
the scene of a spectacular traffic crash in Los Angeles' Valley Village
neighborhood. But as he pulled over to call 911, she rushed out anyway, eager to
help.
A sport utility vehicle had just careened through the intersection of
Magnolia Boulevard and Ben Avenue, shearing off a concrete light standard and
knocking over a fire hydrant before coming to rest on a front lawn. Water spewed
skyward from the broken hydrant and quickly pooled in the intersection.
Zamora ran toward the wrecked SUV and stepped into an electrified pool of
water. She was immediately –- and fatally — electrocuted, struck by what
firefighters estimate was 48,000 volts of electricity.
Such selfless action was typical of Zamora, her sister Ana Aviles said
Thursday. "She always helped people. She didn't measure the consequences. She
was trying to save a life."
Zamora, 40, of Burbank, was one of two women who died Wednesday night in what
police and witnesses described as a bizarre and tragic series of events. The
name of the second woman, who touched Zamora after she had been stricken and was
also electrocuted, has not been released.
At least half a dozen others, including the driver of the SUV and a Los
Angeles police officer, were hospitalized after they too received electrical
shocks while trying to aid the victims.
"It's horrific, very sad for the families of these women and everyone
involved," said Los Angeles Police Det. Bill Bustos of the Valley Traffic
Division. "They were just trying to help."
Mayor
Antonio
Villaraigosa, who visited the site of the accident Thursday with other city
officials, called the two women heroes and praised their instinct to render aid.
But he also urged people to take time to assess such situations and wait for
professionals to arrive. "We don't want anyone hurt," he said.
Police said the driver of the vehicle, a 19-year-old from Glendale who has
not been identified, was heading west on Magnolia Boulevard when he tried to
negotiate a right turn onto Ben from the left lane. He was traveling at speeds
believed to be well above the 35-mile-per-hour limit, police said.
Alcohol was not a factor, Bustos said.
Residents of the densely populated neighborhood described a chaotic scene, as
gushing water spread rapidly through the darkened intersection. Would-be
rescuers raced up from all directions.
"It was horrible, chaotic, just horrible," said Liz Casmier, who lives
nearby. Casmier said at least 50 people gathered within minutes of the
crash.
Jacqueline Montgomery, who manages a nearby apartment complex, was walking a
friend to his car when she saw the speeding SUV sliding into the turn.
"He was flying," she said.
As people began to pour out of the many apartment buildings in the area,
Zamora and her husband pulled up, several eyewitnesses said. Zamora raced toward
the SUV, apparently intent on helping the driver, but stepped into the water and
was instantly shocked.
"We saw her standing there and shaking" from the electrical current, said a
resident named Jeanette, who declined to give her last name. "I can still see it
vivid in my mind."
Zamora's distraught husband ran toward his wife, yelling to her, the woman
said. Several neighbors restrained him, fearing he too might be injured.
Twin brothers Skyler and Beau Maxon, 23, who moved to Los Angeles from Salt
Lake City two years ago to pursue acting careers, also rushed to the scene from
their apartment.
Skyler Maxon said his brother approached Zamora, touching either the injured
woman or the electrified water near her and immediately suffered a shock. He was
in intensive care Thursday but is expected to live, his brother said.
Maxon said as he and another man tried to help his brother, another woman,
not aware of the danger, ran toward Zamora. "We were yelling at her to stay
back, but I don't think she understood," he said.
The woman touched Zamora, then collapsed.
Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jaime Moore said rescue crews used a
specialized glass pole to retrieve the women's bodies safely. Efforts to
resuscitate them were unsuccessful, he said.
Late in the day, Zamora's family members and friends set up a collage of
pictures of her at the accident site and several young relatives released
balloons in her memory.
Since 1993, she had worked at Lawyers Title Co. in Burbank, where she had
moved up from the switchboard to an assistant title officer. She was friendly
and well-liked, said the firm's David Cronenbold.
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The other woman who was electrocuted was Stacey Lee Schreiber, 39, of Valley Village.
DMV photo of Stacey
One witness said he tried to warn her to stay back from the wire, but
he thinks she must not have heard her. Gerome Glassman told KTLA: "I
kept telling her, pleading with her, that stay back, it's a live wire.
She didn't hear me, and she dropped within seconds. There was nothing we
could do."
Glassman was one of about a half-dozen people at the scene who tried
to rescue the injured. He said he was thrown back when he was shocked.
One North Hollywood police received a shock through his boot, and was
discharged overnight. Another witness named Skyler Maxon told KTLA that
his twin brother was in the hospital after getting shocked as well.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0824-electrocution-20120824,0,7081357.story?track=rss
http://los-angeles-times.alltop.com/
http://www.centralcoastpage.com/modules/state/index.php?page=eachpipe&pipe_id=1
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/women-electrocuted-helping-person-car-crash-article-1.1142952
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/24/irma-zamora-stacey-schreiber-good-samaritans-electrocuted_n_1828338.html
http://laist.com/
LA Public Library.
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