Driver pulled from creek crash near Cotati

An alert motorist Sunday helped direct firefighters to a man who had crashed his pickup off the road, across a field and into Washoe Creek near Cotati.

The crash occurred about 12:40 p.m. along Stony Point Road near West Sierra Avenue.

A male driver heading south on Stony Point lost control of his Toyota pickup for an unknown reason. The vehicle crossed the northbound lanes and crashed through a fence on the east side of Stony Point.

The pickup traveled more than 100 yards and came to rest in the creek, said Jimmy Bernal, a Rancho Adobe fire captain.

Another motorist witnessed the crash, called 911 and waited to direct emergency personnel to the pickup. The vehicle was covered in blackberry vines, with only its roof visible from the roadway, Bernal said.

As a precaution, firefighters used a backboard to remove the man from the truck.

Without the motorist’s aid, no one on Sunday might have spotted the truck or known that a crash had occurred there.

“He was lucky in so many ways,” Bernal said of the pickup’s driver.

The man, whose name wasn’t released, was transported by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter?@rdigit