Two injured in Merced County crash

Two Merced County residents were taken to a regional hospital Tuesday night after their vehicle ran off the roadway and overturned in a walnut orchard, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The driver, Samantha Meadows, 20, of Atwater, wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle, according to the CHP. She was flown to a Modesto hospital for treatment of unspecified major injuries, the CHP said in a news release.

Her passenger, David Dooley, 23, of Livingston, suffered a facial laceration and was taken by ambulance to the same hospital, the CHP said.

Updates on their conditions were not available Wednesday.

The CHP said Meadows was driving a 1998 Saturn SL2 west on Westside Boulevard, just west of Cressey Way, around 6:30 p.m. when she made “an unsafe turning movement,” causing her to lose control of the vehicle. The Saturn traveled across the eastbound traffic lane and slid sideways into the orchard, where it overturned and crashed into a tree.

Neither drugs nor alcohol were factors in the crash, Officer Moises Onsurez said.

Onsurez said the incident was a reminder of the importance of wearing seat belts.

This story was originally published March 11, 2015 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Two injured in Merced County crash."