BONITA, Calif. (KGTV) -- A driver escaped serious injury after crashing his car into a tree that fell across a Bonita-area street early Thursday morning.
The collision happened at around 3:30 a.m. on Sweetwater Road, near Valley Road, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The driver, Julian Garcia, said he was on his way home from work when he slammed into a large Eucalyptus tree that uprooted and fell across both lanes.
According to Garcia, the street was dark and he did not notice the tree until it was too late. Despite hitting his brakes, the car collided head-on with the tree.
Garcia told 10News that if he didn’t start slowing down when he did and struck the tree at a higher rate of speed, “I probably wouldn’t be here … it’s a really big tree; it would’ve been like hitting a wall.”
He added, “I feel lucky. I’m more stressed financially about how I’m going to handle all of this. I’m very fortunate and thankful.”
It took firefighters about an hour to cut the tree and move it off the road.
Garcia was not hurt, but the car -- which belongs to his girlfriend -- sustained major front-end damage.
