14 DAY TRIAL // A plane crash near South Lake Tahoe has killed a man and injured his wife. The 67-year-old pilot died upon impact.
Steven A. Lefton was the owner of the 40-year-old plane. His wife suffered moderate injuries but a nurse was able to help her.
According to Mercury News, she was pulled out of the aircraft by a CalStar flight nurse who just happened to be walking her dog in the area.
Registered nurse Beth Frisby works in the California Shock Trauma Air Rescue flight program. She was off-duty and walking her dog when she noticed the plane going down.
She pulled Lefton's wife, Karen, out of the wreckage and provided her with CPR until EMTs were able to assist her.
Within minutes, the woman was attended to by sheriff's office deputies and the Lake Valley Fire Department also sent out a crew. Karen Lefton was transported to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno where she is now stable.
Inquisitr relays a report by Lt. Pete Van Arnum of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, who details that the plane has been overturned, getting the woman stuck inside.
The Mooney M20C crashed immediately after take-off, losing altitude and rapidly descending into a wooded area. The small plane left South Lake Tahoe Airport at around 11:10 a.m. on Monday, July 22.
“Several witnesses said that the aircraft was having difficulty getting lift as it was taking off from the airport and then it veered to the east and started losing altitude and went down in forested area near a meadow area, crashed and flipped over,” Van Arnum describes.
He adds that the aircraft crash landed on its side after smashing into pine trees. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman mentions they are looking into the cause of the crash. The Mooney aircraft was built in 1963 and it seated four people.