Mendocino County woman badly injured after car smashes into tree

<p>An Mendocino coast resident was badly injured when she drove a pickup truck off Highway 128 and into a redwood tree west of Philo on Thursday afternoon, trapping her legs in the crumpled front end of the vehicle, authorities said.</p><p>Fire crews worked for an extended period to cut Albion resident Jessica Friedland, 23, from the wreckage after the pickup went airborne, struck the tree, then slammed down an embankment on the driver’s side, officials said.</p><p>“Her legs were entangled in the crushed lower portion of the car,” Anderson Valley Fire Chief Colin Wilson said. “We ended up having to pretty seriously disassemble the car, and it took quite a while.”</p><p>An unidentified 4-year-old boy was riding in the front seat of the eastbound pickup when Friedland apparently lost control of it along a stretch of redwood-lined highway west of Flynn Creek Road around 4:45 p.m.</p><p>The boy managed to climb out on his own, however, and did not have significant injuries even though he wasn’t in a child safety seat, CHP Officer Randy England said.</p><p>He was taken by ground ambulance to Mendocino Coast Hospital for evaluation, but mainly as a precaution, England said.</p><p>Friedland, meanwhile, was taken by air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment of major injuries.</p><p>An update on her condition was not immediately available Friday morning.</p>