One injured in crash with postal truck, sheriff’s vehicle

A 43-year-old U.S. Postal Service worker suffered minor injuries Tuesday in a four-vehicle collision that also involved a Merced County sheriff’s vehicle.

The postal worker was taken to an area hospital with unspecified minor injuries, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Jason Schoonhoven.

He was identified as Andrew Hollins of Merced, according to Officer Moises Onsurez.

No other injuries were reported at the scene.

The collision occurred around 4 p.m. at the intersection of R and 20th streets in Merced.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Sziraki was headed south on R Street, responding to an emergency call with his lights and sirens activated in a marked Ford Explorer, according to witnesses at the scene.

Sziraki, 51, was crossing the intersection when the westbound postal truck pulled out in front of him. Sziraki attempted an evasive maneuver but was unable to avoid the collision, the CHP said.

The sheriff’s vehicle sustained major front-end damage, coming to a rest at the southwest corner of the intersection. The mail-delivery truck spun into the side of a gray Honda sedan and crashed head-on into a flatbed Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, both of which were waiting at the stoplight in the northbound lanes of R Street.

Neither the driver of the Honda, Joe Pedrosa, nor the Tacoma’s driver, Christian Paradiso, was injured, the CHP said.

Rich Basart of Merced witnessed the crash. He said he clearly heard the deputy’s sirens and saw his emergency lights before the collision. “He (Sziraki) was trapped inside the vehicle, and me and a volunteer firefighter helped pry the door open,” Basart said.

Sheriff’s Capt. Greg Sullivan confirmed Sziraki was not injured in the crash.

The CHP is conducting the investigation, which, Sullivan said, is standard procedure in any crash involving an on-duty sheriff’s deputy.

Officers from the Merced Police Department controlled traffic at the intersection while CHP officers investigated the scene. Southbound traffic was closed at R and 21st streets for a brief time following the collision.

This story was originally published January 27, 2015 at 5:26 PM with the headline "One injured in crash with postal truck, sheriff’s vehicle."