Sheriff’s captain critically injured in car crash

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A veteran Los Angeles County sheriff’s captain was critically injured Friday night when the county car she was driving collided head-on with another vehicle in the Santa Clarita Valley area east of Castaic Lake, officials said.

The driver of the other car, a 38-year-old man from Elizabeth Lake, suffered moderate injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol. He was not identified.

Capt. Carrie Stuart, 47, who is a unit commander of the Pitchess Detention Center South Facility, was being treated at an area hospital for multiple injuries, according to sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore. Stuart, a 28-year department veteran, was driving an unmarked county-owned car but Whitmore said he did not know whether she was on duty or headed to or from work at the time of the 9:30 p.m. crash.

The CHP reported that Stuart was driving a 2009 Ford southbound on San Francisquito Canyon Road north of Stator Lane when her vehicle drifted into the northbound lane. It then collided with an 2010 Acura that then overturned onto its passenger side on the road’s dirt shoulder.

The CHP said no one had been arrested in connection with the crash. Whitmore said there were no indications that Stuart might have been under the influence of alcohol but he added that blood tests would be examined.

Stuart lives in the Los Angeles area and has four children.

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-- Larry Gordon