Pedestrian killed when vehicle overturns on top of her in Santa Rosa (w/video)

A woman standing on a downtown Santa Rosa street corner Tuesday afternoon was struck and killed by an SUV that careened into her after it collided with a car in the intersection, police said.

The Santa Rosa woman, 73, died after being trapped under a Ford Explorer that had overturned onto her after the crash at about 2:30 p.m. at B and Third Streets, across from the busy Santa Rosa Plaza and a block west of Courthouse Square.

Her name was withheld pending notification of her family.

“As far as we can tell, she was just standing on the corner,” Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Mike Numainville said. “Sadly, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

In the minutes after the crash, rescue personnel worked feverishly with a pneumatic inflation device and wooden blocks to lift the Ford Explorer off her, but she died at the scene.

Two men, drivers of the Ford and a Volvo, were taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with what appeared to be minor injuries, Numainville said. Neither vehicle had any passengers.

The Explorer driver, Daniel Borbely, 72, of Santa Rosa, was helped out of his vehicle by bystanders after it came to rest on its roof, Numainville said.

Both he and Santa Rosa resident David Nelson, 94, the Volvo driver, were cooperative with the investigation, police said. No one had been cited.

The fatality was the first pedestrian death in Sonoma County this year, according to police and Press Democrat records. There were six in all of Sonoma County last year, four in Santa Rosa.

A wire hand cart with several stuffed plastic bags attached to it was left at the scene next to the woman on the well-trafficked corner, in front of Luther Burbank Savings and down the block from the transit mall. Police said it was the victim’s.

Police cordoned off several blocks near B Street, and pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the downtown area quickly became congested. Police gathered a few witnesses near the front of the bank.

Witnesses told police that the car and the SUV collided in the center of the intersection, sending the SUV into a roll and onto the sidewalk in front of the bank.

The newer model Volvo wagon was left parked at the curb on Third Street near the intersection. It had only minor bumper and front-end damage.

A man who appeared to be its driver was treated by paramedics shortly after the crash in front of the bank. He was fitted with a neck brace and helped to a stretcher and ambulance.

Numainville said it appeared the Ford and Volvo were headed in opposite directions on Third Street when one turned left in front of the other.

Accident investigators spent several hours taking measurements and gathering data to try to reconstruct the scene, the speeds each was traveling and which driver was at fault.

The speed limit on that stretch of Third Street is 25 mph east of B Street and 30 mph to the west. The crash occurred just east of the underpass beneath the Santa Rosa Plaza, where eastbound drivers crest the hill to a traffic light at B Street and head into the center of downtown.

It hadn’t been determined if either driver ran a red light, was speeding or otherwise breaking any laws.

Police were working to obtain security camera footage from Luther Burbank Savings in case it could shed any light on the series of events.

David Lawrence, 76, happened upon the scene while walking. He lives nearby at Bethlehem Towers and walks downtown frequently.

“The traffic down here is just so bad,” he said. “I’ve lived here a long time, and it just gets worse and worse.”

The death was the first pedestrian fatality of the new year in Sonoma County. Of six fatal pedestrian collisions last year, four occurred in Santa Rosa, one in Rohnert Park and one in Sebastopol.

In November, 26-year-old Daniel Estrada Heidecker of Santa Rosa was killed when he stepped into traffic on Highway 101 south of the Yolanda Avenue exit. He walked onto the highway at about 6:20 a.m. and was struck by two vehicles.

On city streets in October, Daniel Bruce McCauley, 69, was struck and killed as he crossed Mendocino Avenue just south of Santa Rosa High School at about 3:30 p.m.

In July, a 21-year-old Novato man, Basilio Nathan Garza Jr., was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver as he walked in the middle of the road near Rohnert Park. John Mesker, 33, of Santa Rosa is facing criminal charges in the crash.

Police reopened downtown streets at about 7 p.m.

You can reach Lori A. Carter at 521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.