The Orange County Independent News from Orange County California
The latest in a seemingly never ending string of car crashes into the Orange Circle happened shortly after midnight Sunday morning.
A woman traveling eastbound on Chapman avenue drove her car at full speed into the center park of the historic circle in Old Towne Orange. The driver and her female passenger declined medical treatment at the scene. The crash was captured by a camera in the circle and can be seen in the video below.
The fountain in the center of the circle was recently reopened after having been heavily damaged by a previous crash involving a truck that was being pursued by police. This time the historic fountain was spared major damage but some of the tiles were destroyed by debris from the crash.
The car narrowly missed the Christmas Tree and large Santa Claus that was placed in the circle Friday.
The driver was given a field sobriety test by Orange Police but was not arrested. The reason she drove past bollards placed in the street to protect the circle and past a bright white flashing arrow sign is still not clear. The City of Orange has tried a variety of methods to prevent these crashes but none have seemed to stop them completely. Many of the crashes in the past have involved serious injury and fatalities.
Police cordoned off the area around the fountain and city crews will clean up the mess this week and come up with a plan to repair the fountain yet again.
