South Lake Tahoe officials provide new details after woman found OK in car buried in snow
At a news conference Thursday, the City of South Lake Tahoe provided an update to the story about the woman who was saved from a buried car by a snow plow driver and SLTPD officers.
The woman, who said she was homeless, had been walking around the casinos and got tired. So she went to an acquaintances car and fell asleep inside. She told police when she woke up, it had snowed so much, she was trapped. See the original story here.
“We cannot stress enough how dangerous this kind of situation is,” said Ray Jarvis, Public Works Director, “For the woman in the car, for our snow plow drivers, for everyone involved. When it snows this much, being in a car isn’t safe, especially one parked in a snow removal area.”
See the video of the press conference here or below.
Our snow plow driver saw a berm along Cedar Ave. and went to clear it. When he did he knew something wasn’t right. The woman inside said she felt the snow plow bump into the back of her car.
“It wasn’t immediately apparent that the woman was inside the car,” said Lt. Dave Stevenson, SLTPD, “but when we realized someone was inside, everyone jumped in to help.”
Thankfully the woman and the plow driver escaped this situation unharmed. It could have ended much differently.
“There are places to go in town if you need them,” said Chris Fiore, Communications Manager.“ The city is proud to partner with the Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless. In fact they recently opened up their warm room specifically to help people in need.”