BRIEFLY : 2 PALMDALE SISTERS EJECTED FROM CAR.

PALMDALE - Two sisters were injured after they were thrown from the window of their family minivan Saturday afternoon on the Antelope Valley Freeway, deputies said.

The van, carrying a family of seven from Palmdale, had swerved out of control and crashed into a side guardrail.

The two girls, a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old, were taken by helicopter to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, said California Highway Patrol Sgt. Norm Duarty of the Antelope Valley division. The 12-year-old was in critical but stable condition, and the 14-year-old was in fair but stable condition Saturday night, according to a nursing supervisor at Holy Cross.

The crash occurred about 3:40 p.m. when a woman driving her husband and children was traveling north at 65 miles per hour on State Route 14 near the Los Angeles Forest Highway exit.

The 1996 Plymouth Voyager drifted into a dirt center divider, then traveled back to the right, crossing all three lanes before hitting the guardrail on the right shoulder.

The impact shattered the rear right passenger window, through which the two girls were ejected, police said. The girls were not wearing seat belts, police added.

The driver, Marie Gaton, 34, was uninjured. Deputies said the cause of the crash is under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.

A 9-year-old girl received cuts on her lower lip and was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster. A 4-year-old boy received a small cut to his head and was also taken to Antelope Valley Hospital.

The father, 37, complained of pain but refused medical treatment. A 10-month-old baby girl, who was seated in a baby seat, was not injured, deputies said.

- Daily News

Worker drives car off dock and dies

PORT HUENEME - A dock worker died Saturday after the sport-utility vehicle he was driving plunged off a dock and sank 50 feet, police reported.

On Saturday at 11:24 a.m., the man, believed to be in his 70s, was driving away from a cargo ship that delivers new vehicles to the port when the vehicle continued off the end of the dock into the harbor.

Officials said the man appeared to have suffered from a medical condition that caused him to lose control of the vehicle.

The victim was immediately taken to St. John's Regional Medical Center where he was declared dead after efforts to revive him failed. The name of the victim is being withheld pending notification of family.

- Daily News

Man dies in jacuzzi in condo complex

NEWHALL - A man died in a jacuzzi of a condominium complex Saturday afternoon, possibly intoxicated from alcohol, police said.

At about 4:35 p.m., a man believed to be in his mid-30s was found dead in a jacuzzi in a condominium complex of the 21000 block of Trumpet Drive. The man's name was not released pending further investigation, said Lt. Larry Gump of the Los Angeles County sheriff's station in Santa Clarita Valley.

``It sounds like he was drinking for the last several weeks and then today he had a lot to drink, so I'm just guessing that would be involved,'' Gump said.

- Daily News